It was a random alcohol test that uncovered what turned out to be an extensive drug network in Tromsø. A network that organized crazy mountain trips on foot from Sweden to Norway, to smuggle hashish. With GPS, walking poles and rucksacks. This has become one of Northern Norway’s biggest drug-trafficking cases, and a total of 14 people are or have been charged. Now three men from Tromsø have been sentenced for serious drug activity. The supposed ringleader has received a prison sentence of 6 years and 8 months. His childhood friend is sentenced to 6 years and 2 months. The last, the brother of the main man, is sentenced to 6 years and 1 month. “The boss” was drunk in Spain – I have felt like a donkey, said one of the defendants during the trial in Nord-Trom district court. When the case was over, the three pleaded guilty in whole or in part after the indictment. The foot route over the mountain was initially referred to as a successful smuggling route. But hash got a bad reputation. It was described as “rubbish” and they struggled to sell it. The supposed main man, a Tromsø man in his 50s, was in Spain and “swimming” in alcohol and cocaine. He was saddled with bigger and bigger debts, the pressure increased from all sides, and he had to find solutions to cover the loss. That is why he organized what he himself referred to as a “last delivery”. And three men, two of the defendants in this case, were told to wait in an apartment in northern Sweden. Then one evening two men arrived with large, black bags full of hashish. So much, that it filled both the lower and upper part of a bunk bed. The defendants explained in court how they went into full work mode, and began counting, sorting and packing what turned out to be 228 kilos of hashish. There was hardly any atmosphere between the men. They were full of adrenaline and nerves, they miscounted and there was a lot of arguing. The men then had to take everything out of the apartment and across the border to Norway. It was not quite according to plan. The inflatable boat that burst They brought an inflatable boat with them which they inflated and set adrift in Lake Torneträsk in northern Sweden. In this way, they were to save a few meters carrying the heavy load. But in strong winds and high waves, the inflatable boat burst. And they were tired. They hid the hash under a tarpaulin at the border, before going back to the apartment and having one last party. Then it was on foot towards the mountains and Norway. While the main man in Spain knew that the hash they were now carrying was, in all likelihood, junk and, so to speak, not salable. Decrypted data There were six men who stood trial for importing 339 kilograms of hashish and 15 kilograms of marijuana into Norway in the period June 2020 and October 2021. Three of them had their case adjourned. The network was also accused of having distributed and transported hashish and marijuana to the south of the country. It was a blood alcohol test that got the ball rolling. The police suspected that drug money was involved, because despite having no income, he had just bought two new snowmobiles. During the investigation, the police had communications control of 14 people, and with the contribution of decrypted documents from the communication platform Sky ECC, they exposed the network.
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Tromsø men sentenced for hashish smuggling over the mountain – news Troms and Finnmark
