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COCAINE

Swedish ‘cocaine king’ jailed for 18 years

A 40-year-old man was sentenced on Friday to 18 years in prison after he was caught smuggling 1.4 tonnes of cocaine into Sweden as part of what has been labelled Sweden's "biggest ever" cocaine ring.

Published: 8 March 2013 13:16 CET
Swedish 'cocaine king' jailed for 18 years

The cocaine, which had a street value of 4.5 billion kronor ($665 million), had been imported from Colombia.

The 40-year-old, Jonas Oredsson, is believed to be the mastermind behind the trafficking, but he is known to have had help from several people, including his mother.

The court settled on the lengthy penalty after taking the man’s lengthy criminal record into account.

Another man, 56-year-old Mauritz Andersson, was sentenced to 14 years for his involvement. He confessed to the crime.

“I knew that I was engaged in smuggling, I even knew that it was narcotics,” he said during interrogations, according to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Andersson intends to appeals the verdict.

The crimes, which took place between 2006 and 2010, were uncovered during a record drug bust in June 2010 on a sailboat off Martinique when the 56-year-old sailor was arrested with a 1.4 tonne cargo of cocaine.

The two men were found guilty of attempted aggravated narcotics crimes. Their accomplices, a 30-year-old and a 33-year-old, were sentenced to prison for eight years.

The investigation has been ongoing for four years, and Swedish police have had help from police in the US, Colombia and France, as well as extensive cooperation with European Union agencies Eurojust and Europol.

Oredsson has a lengthy history of criminal activities, including several counts of bank robbery in eastern Sweden, one of which he took a cashier hostage.

He is also known for his escapes from authorities, once being taken by masked and gun wielding men from a correction centre, and once from a court by a man on a motorcycle after having just been sentenced to 12 years prison.

Oredsson’s mother is charged with having hidden 26 million kronor in a foundation in Switzerland.

The criminal network is known to have spent 115 million kronor between 2007 and 2010, including the purchasing of houses and boats in up to five different countries.

Members of the group are also charged with money laundering in Spain.

TT/AFP/The Local/og

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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".

Published: 9 September 2020 10:51 CEST
Updated: 9 September 2020 16:55 CEST
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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