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CRIMINAL

Charges for Sweden’s ‘biggest-ever’ coke bust

Four men were charged on Thursday in connection with Sweden's “biggest-ever” cocaine bust that netted worth an estimated 145 million kronor ($21 million) from what police believe is a Balkan-based smuggling operation.

Charges for Sweden's 'biggest-ever' coke bust

“This is the biggest cocaine bust in Swedish history and it was meant for the Swedish market,” Torsten Källander, chief investigator with the Stockholm county police’s narcotics division, told TV4.

The four men all come from the former Yugoslavia and are believed to be a part of a drug smuggling network based out of Montenegro.

The men were arrested in May after police observed how one of the men took possession of a bag from a man in a white baseball hat in a suspected drug deal in Gamla Stan.

Police then followed the buyer and his two accomplices to a flat in the Stockholm suburb of Solna where they found the suspicious bag which turned out to contain four kilogrammes of cocaine.

After using surveillance footage from the Stockholm metro, police were also able to localize the man in the white baseball hat who allegedly sold the drugs.

The day following the initial arrests, the suspected seller – donning the same white baseball hat – was spotted by police at a metro stop in the Stockholm suburb of Farsta.

The man was arrested and had a set of keys with him at the time that police were eventually able to tie to a flat in Fagersjö.

During a subsequent search of the apartment, police found more than 20 kilogrammes of cocaine stashed about the refrigerator as well as 17.5 kilos in a compartment beneath the floor.

In all, police confiscated 42.5 kilogrammes of cocaine in the operation police suspect is controlled by a drug smuggling network based in Montenegro.

On Thursday, prosecutor Kristina Lindhoff Carleson filed charges of aggravated narcotics crimes and narcotics smuggling against the four men in the Solna District Court.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” investigator Källander told TV4.

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DRUGS

How drug dealers in Germany are adapting to new corona reality

The chief of the German bureau of investigation (BKA) said drug dealers had learned new ways to sell their wares, stating that “we haven't noticed a shortage on the market".

How drug dealers in Germany are adapting to new corona reality
Drug dealers adapted to the coronavirus crisis. Photo: DPA

Many industries have been hit hard in the coronavirus crisis. But it appears drug dealers adapted quickly during the lockdown, even while doing home office.

Move to online and delivery

Presenting his agency's annual report on drug criminality on Tuesday, BKA boss Holger Münch said that dealers had quickly adapted to the coronavirus by offering more service online.

Narcotics purchased via the internet and delivered by post – often to a packet shop – had increased during the pandemic.

Smuggling by air and sea continued at a constant level throughout the crisis in comparison with recent years, he said.

SEE ALSO: 10 things you should know about illegal drug use in Germany

'Cocaine not elite drug anymore'

Münch made the comments during the presentation of the annual drug report, which showed an increase in drug criminality for the ninth year in a row last year.

Criminality in connection with cocaine rose most sharply, increasing by 12 percent. “We've come to the conclusion that this isn’t an elite drug anymore,'' said Münch.

The largest quantity of cocaine ever seized in Germany was discovered by customs in July 2019 during a routine check in the port of Hamburg.

A container of soybeans, which was to be transported from Uruguay via Hamburg to Belgium, contained 4.5 tonnes of cocaine. The estimated street value was almost one billion euros.

Drug use increasing

Meanwhile, 31 illegal drug labs were busted nationwide in 2019, a 63 percent increase on 2018.

In total, the number of drug offences registered in 2019 rose by 2.6 percent compared to the previous year to 359,747. By far the most offences were related to cannabis. 

“Instead of wasting resources on prosecuting users, the federal and state governments should take targeted action against organized drug crime and the black market,” said FDP drug policy expert Wieland Schinnenburg. 

Schinnenburg proposed starting the controlled distribution of cannabis to adults, which would free up police resources to go after more serious crimes.

Münch said that he was not against conducting a debate on liberalization. But he cautioned that he had not seen evidence to suggest either that legalization leads to lower consumption or that it weakens the power of organized crime networks.

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