Customs seizes cocaine worth €4.5m smuggled from Ecuador to Finland

Finnish Customs uncovered an aggravated narcotics offence involving the smuggling of 45 kilos of cocaine in a sea container from Ecuador, said Customs in a press release on Thursday.

The street value of the consignment is estimated to be about 4.5 million euros.

The smuggling was uncovered in an operation conducted in Vuosaari Harbour in September.

The preliminary investigation into the incident has been completed and the case has been forwarded to the Prosecution District of Southern Finland for consideration of charges against two suspects.

Based on intelligence gathered by Customs, two non-Finnish citizens were selected for investigation. The persons arrived in Finland around five days before they forced their entry into the grounds of Vuosaari Harbour. Over these days, the suspects surveyed the harbour area and obtained equipment for collecting the narcotics.

“On a night in September, the suspects were seen approaching the shore at Vuosaari Harbour using a boat that they had found nearby. In the harbour, the suspects found the sea container they were looking for and the cocaine hidden in the refrigeration compartment of the container. The suspects were apprehended outside the harbour when they were about to exit the area,” said the investigator in charge of the case, Mikko Martikainen.

Apart from Customs, personnel from the police departments of Helsinki and Eastern Uusimaa and from the Central Bureau of Investigation were among the authorities that participated in the operation. Europol was also involved in the operation.

The cocaine smuggled into Finland could be seized in its entirety and none of it ended up being distributed.

There has been an increase in the seizures of narcotics, especially cocaine, made by Customs in the current year. So far this year, Customs has seized 1 946 kilos of narcotics, 78 kilos of which is cocaine.