Along with the explosively increased flow of foreign parcels, even more narcotics arrive in Finland, the control of which is very difficult for Customs.
Yle reported a couple of weeks ago about the wildly growing package flow of Chinese online stores, which also includes drugs.
The ability of customs to supervise the online trade, which is running at a rate of 50 million packages per year, is almost non-existent, and with the consumer burden comes drugs as well.
Director General of Customs Sami Rakshitin according to China is often the country of origin for powerful designer drugs that can fit in a small space, such as alpha-PVP, i.e. thumb.
– It is typical for drug consignments arriving from China to use traditional postal transport or other similar express freight transport, says Rakshit.
The online shopping tsunami has also become a problem for the police fighting drug crime.
The Inspector General of Police of the Ministry of the Interior Sami Ryhänen with online shopping, identifying criminals becomes increasingly difficult and at the same time the availability of drugs improves.
– The more possible perpetrators there are, the greater the burden on the preliminary investigation authority and the police is to find the perpetrators and be able to uncover these drug crimes and investigate them to the end, says Ryhänen.
Drug flows are increasing and may turn towards Finland
In addition to drugs or their ingredients traveling in the middle of an avalanche of e-commerce packages, another problem is massive drug shipments, the direction of which may soon turn to the Baltic Sea and even directly to Finnish ports.
In Finland, drugs are traditionally imported goods. The map below roughly shows from where in the world different drugs travel to Europe and Finland.
According to wastewater studies, amphetamine is the most popular drug in Finland, which is why Finland is called the country of amphetamines.
Cocaine comes in second place, with a steadily increasing flow. Cocaine comes from South America to the big ports of Europe in the containers of merchant ships carrying bananas. From there, it continues its journey to Finland on trucks via Denmark, Sweden or the Baltics.
According to Sami Rakshit, gigantic shipments of drugs are coming to different parts of Europe.
– The quantities of narcotics, especially the quantities of cocaine, which are currently coming to these large ports in Western Europe, they are enormous and their monetary value is enormous, says Rakshit.
Last year, for example, Spain reported the largest ever seizure of cocaine in a single shipment – 13 tons of cocaine were hidden in bananas from Ecuador. The sad cocaine boom is primarily explained by the ever-increasing casual use of cocaine.
– In Central Europe, for example, very large shipments of drugs arrive at the ports of France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and now also Norway.
According to Rakshit, the big ports have stepped up their surveillance, and drug cargoes are being caught more and more often.
Now we are discussing where the drug flows will move to, when the big ports are no longer as attractive destinations due to the greater risk of getting caught. This is where the danger lies for Finland.
– Little by little, this phenomenon is moving to smaller ports. It comes to the Baltic Sea. Is it to Poland, the Baltics or Finland, asks Rakshit and says that you have to be prepared for this.
According to Chief Police Inspector Ryhänen, criminals control risk management and constantly strive to adjust their activities according to the actions of the authorities. This means finding new routes when old ones become dangerous.
– Based on the experiences of Europe and the whole world, it can be said that organized crime tries to gain control of traffic hubs such as ports and airports, and thereby create operating conditions for itself. I don’t see any way that Finland would be able to stay out of this, says Inspector General of Police Ryhänen.
An example of this works A Colombian drug container caught in the police’s wound in Vuosaari harbor in the springwhere 40 kilograms of cocaine entered the country.
There are clear signs of an increase in drug flows in Finland as well. For customs, catching drug shipments or e-commerce packages containing drugs is a basic requirement.
The police and customs last said at the beginning of October that they had uncovered a large drug distribution organization in Turku.
According to the customs, the number of drug seizures last year was significantly higher than in 2023. In kilograms, the number of seizures of marijuana, amphetamine and cocaine increased the most.
Customs needs to get more information to be able to act
According to Rakshit, Customs still does not know well enough what is moving in Finnish ports.
– We need to know even better what comes to our ports, both in terms of ships and freight traffic, Rakshit says.
At the center of everything is good foresight. Of course, it would be best to meet drug shipments at the border.
– We need to be able to choose in advance what to inspect and where to look for narcotics or other illegal goods.
According to Rakshit, the law in Finland must be changed so that it enables the cooperation of port operators and the flow of information. The solution is simple: the information already collected must be made available to the authorities.
– Shipping companies and forwarding companies and other operators already have the information on intra-EU traffic. That data must be made available to the authorities so that we can avoid disrupting legal traffic and allocate resources better.
According to Rakshit, in addition, even light technology solutions can achieve a lot of good. Technology can speed up the flow of information and increase the efficiency of inspections, which are key.
– There should be enough automated inspection technology of the type that does not have to stop traffic unnecessarily.
When discussing customs appropriations with Rakshit, he states that the most important thing is the powers of the Customs.
– The most important thing is that the powers have been updated to the condition that this security situation requires.
He refers above all to the need for legal reform enabling the use of existing information.
According to Rakshit, the information systems used by Customs also need to be supplemented and updated. However, according to Rakshit, we are not talking about massive investments.
– It’s not a question of billions or hundreds of millions, but rather that the funding is at a suitable, sufficient level.
According to Rakshit, the situation would change just because the officer performing customs inspections in the field would have the most up-to-date information on what is moving in the port on his terminal. Besides that, you just need the right people in the right places. This is exactly what would prevent unnecessary stops.
– Sufficient customs officers at the ports to carry out inspections. Yes, I say that when the basics are in order, we are already much further.
This is precisely what is being aimed at in the ongoing yt negotiations of the Customs. The staff must be brought to the right place to carry out supervision and inspections.
– According to the need, employees will be reduced from those places where there is not a lot of traffic or a lot of risks at the moment, says Rakshit.
Customs’ current focus has shifted away from the east due to the closure of the eastern border and the trade situation in Russia, and Rakshit does not believe that the situation will change in the near future.
– Our priorities are at the Helsinki–Vantaa airport, the ports of Helsinki, the Turku–Naantali ports and the Tornio land border crossing. It then reflects on yt procedures as well. The Yt procedures aim to ensure that these positions are adequately resourced.
The Finnish Customs is responsible for investigating criminals
According to Rakshit, the threat of violence is very high in the large ocean ports of Western Europe.
In the huge ports of Western Europe, there are soldiers and various armed authorities to secure the performance of the duties of the port authorities and employees.
– There is a high security risk there, Rakshit reminds.
The fact that after large drug seizures, the drugs have to be destroyed already in the ports, because they don’t dare to transport them out of there, tells something about the security threats. If confiscated drugs are transported elsewhere for destruction, it most often happens in military convoys.
– It is a very valuable batch when a large batch of narcotics is confiscated. Then it is also in the interest of the criminals to get the drug back, says Rakshit.
It can often be hundreds of millions of euros.
– We need to know even better who moves in the ports and who works there.
Rakshit tells an interesting detail: According to him, Finnish Customs is also involved in the investigation and activities of criminals. According to Rakshit, this is an insider risk that must be managed.
– Often, criminals who have also visited Finnish ports to look for drugs that have arrived, have known very precisely where the drugs are. And they are not experts in port logistics, but the information then comes from within.
