Highest number of drug seizures for five years

Customs office in Oslo.Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB scanpix

Highest number of drug seizures for five years

In the first half of 2017, the Customs Office (tolletaten) made the highest number of drug seizures for five years. Illegal substances are sent in ever smaller quantities.

 

2,200 of the nearly 20,000 customs seizures made in the first half of 2017 involved narcotics.

Over a ton of cannabis has been stopped by customs so far this year. Additionally, there were 141 kilograms of amphetamine, 52 kilos higher than the first 6 months of 2016. 4.2 kilos of cocaine, 3.6 kilos of heroin and two kilos of ecstasy were also seized.

Customs director, Øystein Børmer, said that more and more individuals are smuggling their own drugs via internet trade, rather than trading in drugs already smuggled inland.

Increased number of postal parcels

‘Post and parcel traffic across the border has increased, with less shipment of prohibited goods,’ said Børmer to NTB news agency.

The Customs Service therefore sees a wide threat, as criminals are simultaneously smuggling large quantities of drugs into the country. The agency has also found that most smugglers use increasingly sophisticated methods to smuggle goods across the border.

‘They are heading towards the border and monitoring traffic, making use of follow-up vehicles. At the same time, the smugglers use more technical means, such as short wave radio communications equipment, to reduce the risk of being caught’, said Børmer.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today