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Swedish airport reports record heroin bust

Swedish customs officer at Skavsta airport, south of Stockholm, have made the airport’s largest bust of heroin to date when more than a kilo of the drug was found in a bag belonging to a passenger on Friday.

Published: 13 July 2011 10:14 CEST

Swedish airport reports record heroin bust

The man, reportedly in his twenties, arrived in Sweden on a flight from Rome, Italy.

He was remanded into custody following the bust and according to local paper Södermanlands Nyheter he has admitted to being a courier but claims he did not know what drug it was he carried nor how much of it he had in his bag.

Meanwhile the customs officers are astounded by the amount of heroin the man was carrying.

“Finding a kilo of heroin is an enormous amount for one bust,” Mikael Lindberg of head of the Swedish customs at Skavsta told the paper.

Custom officers generally confiscate about five kilos of the drug across the region, which comprises of Stockholm and five other counties, per year.

But 2011 has been a busy year for Swedish customs officials. Nearly twice the amount of drugs has been confiscated during the first six months of the year, compared with the same periods in 2010 and 2009.

1,781 confiscations, mainly of cannabis and narcotics-classed medicines, have been made between January and June, according to recent figures from the Swedish Customs (Tullverket).

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Oslo Airport sees uptick in arrivals ahead of new Covid-19 quarantine rules

AFP PHOTO / Hakon Mosvold Larsen (Photo by Hakon Mosvold Larsen / SCANPIX NORWAY / AFP)

The municipal director who is responsible for the quarantine hotels in Ullensaker, where the airport is located, confirmed the trend to newspaper VG.

“We had a relatively tough weekend, because we believe that those who have become aware that they would be put into quarantine hotels have now arrived much earlier, at the beginning of the Easter holidays,” municipal director Gunhild Grimstad-Kirkeby told VG.

New quarantine hotel rules come into effect from Monday, meaning that anybody arriving in Norway on trips that aren’t considered necessary foreign travel will have to check into quarantine hotels. The rules will tighten further on April 1st.

The earliest opportunity to leave the quarantine hotel would be 7 days after arriving and only if you return a negative test. Previously, Norwegian citizens and residents were allowed to quarantine at home.

The latest government information on rules relating to coronavirus quarantine hotels can be found in English here.

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Ullensaker has opened an additional quarantine hotel to help it cope with demand. Grimstad-Kirkeby estimated that there are 1,000-2,000 people currently in quarantine hotels around Oslo Airport Gardermoen.

“It was high pressure on Friday, a little less on Saturday and a little less on Sunday. If I am to assume based on the forecasts I have received there will be a decline in arrivals on Monday (when the new rules come into place),” she said.

Travelers at the hotels must pay a 500 kroner per-day subsidy for adults and 250 kroner per-day subsidy for children aged between 10-18.

On April 1st those arriving in Norway must also provide a negative PCR test that has been taken within 24 hours of their departure flight. Once in Norway, they must take a rapid coronavirus test at the airport or border and wait at the test station until the result is returned. If they are travelling for non-essential reasons, they will be required to quarantine regardless of test results.

Foreign nationals who are unable to meet the requirements will be denied entry and Norwegian citizens and residents will receive fines, Justice Minister, Monica Mæland, told VG. Mæland also said there has been a slight increase in travel activity this Easter.

“We meet this (increased travel) with stricter rules. Some disagree and some still travel, we must have a system in place to ensure that we do not get increased infection rates after Easter,” she said.

“The police will decide the size of the fine in each individual case, and there can be imprisonment for up to six months. We have seen examples of some quite hefty fines already. We will do everything we can to prevent import infection,” she said in regard to the potential punishments for those who break the new rules.

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