354 held, 335 crimes found during intensive police drive

Police detected 335 incidents of narcotics offences and held 354 people on various charges across the country during an intensive surveillance in October.

All police departments and the National Bureau of Investigation participated in the surveillance from October 12 to October 25, said a press release issued by National Police Boardon Friday.

The campaign was targeted the sales and distribution of illegal substances particularly on the street-level and in private apartments.

The police departments reported a total of 125 narcotics offences, 195 cases on unlawful use of narcotics and 15 aggravated narcotics offences. In addition, a total of 67 cases of driving while intoxicated, six cases of violent crime and eight cases of property crime were discovered.

Police officers were also able to find 77 wanted persons in connection to the surveillance efforts.

A total of 354 persons were apprehended in connection to suspicions of crime. Of these, 16 were arrested and two were remanded. In addition, 94 searches of domiciles and 85 searches of areas were conducted.

Compared to last year, a decrease was seen in the number of discovered narcotics offences (125 cases vs. 175 cases in 2019) and cases of unlawful use of narcotics (195 vs. 311 in 2019).

However, the number of discovered aggravated narcotics offences was higher this year (15 vs. 7 cases in 2019).

As a result of the campaign, 19.3 kg of marijuana, 310 cannabis plants, 124 g of hash, 82 g of cocaine, 1.8 kg of amphetamine, around 850 g of methamphetamine and 74 dosage units of LSD were confiscated.

The amount of confiscated prescription drugs was significantly lower than last year. Around EUR 55,000 in cash was confiscated as proceeds of crimes (EUR 34,700 in 2019). In addition, 12 firearms were confiscated.

‘When comparing the campaign’s figures to last year, it should be noted that the resources available at the police departments for each year’s surveillance theme vary from year to year. This means that the results of surveillance campaigns of this type are not always predictable. The police conduct surveillance on the street-level sales of illegal substances regularly and around the year in connection to daily operations’, said Detective Chief Inspector Kari Siivo from the National Police Board.