Charges filed in largest-ever drug seizure in southern Sweden

File photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

The agency said in a press release that customs officials stopped a truck entering Sweden from the Öresund Bridge in March 2017 after a GPS transmitter mounted on the vehicle drew suspicion. When the truck was checked in the Lernacken area at the bridge crossing from Denmark, customs agents found 663 kilos of drugs, including over a half tonne of cannabis. More than 100 kilos of amphetamines were also discovered.

According to the agency, the drugs were distributed into numerous packages and appeared ready for delivery. The estimated street value of the seizure was 90 million kronor ($10.5 million, €8.8 million).

The driver will be charged with drug smuggling and although customs officials said that the operation seemed very well-organized, no additional individuals have been arrested.

“The mere volume indicates that a criminal network organized the smuggling. It is an enormous amount of drugs,” Lars Wilhelmsson, a prosecutor with the National Unit Against Organised Crime (Riksenheten mot internationell och organiserad brottslighet) said.

Officials said that they also discovered a handwritten note with instructions on how to best cross the border undetected.

The driver has denied his guilt and said that he was unaware of the truck’s illegal cargo. At the time of his arrest, the man was identified by Aftonbladet as a Dutch citizen in his 60s who is based in Spain. Customs officials did not confirm those details in Friday’s announcement.

The 663 kilos represent the largest ever seizure to have taken place in Sweden’s southern Skåne region, the area through which most narcotics that enter the country are smuggled. The cannabis taken in the bust was more than customs officials seized in all of 2015 .