One of the biggest heroin seizures the Customs Service has made – three men indicted in a major drug case – news Buskerud – Local news, TV and radio

– We believe that the three have collaborated on the importation of the drugs, says police attorney Philip Green. He is the prosecutor in the case, which is in the Oslo district court until Friday. Police attorney Philip Mathew Green is the prosecutor in the case. Photo: Maria Kommandantvold / news – The seizure of heroin is one of the biggest that customs officers have made in Norway in recent years, says Green. Two of the men are charged with the actual importation. They are respectively from Ringerike and Vestfold. The third man, who, according to the indictment, is said to have organized the smuggling, lives in Sweden. He is said to have given the other two men instructions on how the drug was to be collected and further distributed. – Struggling with debt The two who are charged with having introduced the drug into Norway, have previously run businesses together in Ringerike. The youngest defendant, who now lives in Vestfold, explained in court today that he was struggling with his finances. Hidden in the roof of the car, customs officials found 5.9 kilograms of cocaine. Photo: The police He struggled with debt after the rent piled up for a few months, and he also had debt from a company he ran. He explained that he knew he could contact the man in Sweden who, according to the indictment, is accused of having organized the smuggling. The defendant also explained that before he traveled to the Netherlands, he had been told that ten kilograms of cocaine were to be imported into Norway. On the way down, he found out that it was 31 kilos. – We have never ever talked about or heard that it was heroin we were going to pick up. Then we would never have done the job, said the man in court. Came with the Kiel ferry The drugs were found in a car that came with the ferry from Kiel in February last year and were checked by customs officials at the ferry quay in Oslo. The police believe they can prove that the drugs were obtained in the Netherlands and placed in a car. The man in his 40s from Ringerike is said to have driven it through Germany and on to Norway. Should look after the drugs Lawyer Abdelilah Saeme. Photo: Maria Kommandantvold / news The other man in his 30s drove his own car to make sure the drugs did not go astray. The man lives in Vestfold. His defender, Abdelilah Saeme, says he does not want to comment on the case. The man from Ringerike is represented by lawyer Kirsten Sigmond. – My client pleads guilty. He is looking forward to having the case dealt with in court, she says. The man from Sweden who, according to the indictment, is said to have organized the drug smuggling, denies any involvement in the case. That’s what his defender Øystein Storrvik says. – He says he has nothing to do with it. Lawyer Øystein Storrvik. Photo: Maria Kommandantvold / news Don’t know where the drug was going Prosecutor Philip Green says they don’t know where the drugs were to be distributed further. – The drugs were checked and stopped at customs, so we were unable to discover exactly who the recipients were. We were also worried about this drug going astray. We were keen to get it under control before it spread, says Green. Green does not want to say anything about why this particular car was stopped when it arrived in Oslo on a Saturday evening in February last year. Photo of the cocaine seizure that the customs officers made in February last year. Photo: The police – Unfortunately, we are unable to detect all drugs that enter Norway. But what is the reason why the customs officers checked this vehicle, we will hear more about in court, says Green. – Do you suspect that these have smuggled drugs more times than this one time they were caught? – I don’t want to comment on that before the trial starts, says Green. The defendants risk long prison terms if convicted. Published 13.08.2024, at 10.39 Updated 13.08.2024, at 11.36



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