More drugs were seized than in the whole of last year

Seizures of cocaine and cannabis are increasing exponentially in Sweden.

In the first six months of the year, more than three tons of cannabis and 860 kilograms of cocaine were seized – more than in the whole of 2022.

In total, over 4.5 tons of cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines were seized during the first six months of the year, according to recent statistics from the Swedish Customs Administration.

Cannabis seizures increased from 923 kilograms during the same period last year to 3,182 kilograms this year, cocaine seizures from 59 to 862 kilograms and amphetamine seizures from 241 to 530 kilograms.

Heroin seizures also increased from 0.3 kilos to 5.4 kilos.

The seizures of cannabis and cocaine are already larger than during the whole of last year, when a total of 2,285 and 822 kilograms respectively were seized.

This year, the Customs Service has made 14 individual drug seizures of over 100 kilos, twice as many as in the whole of last year.

Extensive smuggling

“The large seizures show that we have become sharper, but also that the smuggling is extensive,” says Swedish Customs Director General Charlotte Svensson in a press release.

Not least cocaine seizures have skyrocketed recently.

In the port of Helsingborg alone, Sweden’s largest recipient of refrigerated containers from South America, more cocaine – 867 kilos – was seized until the end of May than in the whole of Sweden during the whole of last year.

“Helsingborg’s harbor has become a gateway for drugs to Sweden but also to other European countries,” says Charlotte Svensson.

“Exceptional” increase

Customs and the police have recently warned that Sweden has become a hub and transit country for drug, and not least cocaine, smuggling to other Nordic and European countries.

Sweden’s EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who is responsible for the EU’s internal security, has also repeatedly expressed concern about the development.

– We have seen increased seizures of cocaine throughout the EU, but the increase in Sweden is exceptional, Johansson told TT in connection with the EU’s drug agency releasing its latest annual report in June.