25kg Cocaine Seized at Swedish Port of Uddevalla From Vessel From Colombia

January 24: The Swedish Customs Agency started 2020 with a seizure of cocaine in the port of Uddevalla, worth over SEK 17 million in street value. A vessel from Colombia has been searched and crew interrogations have been conducted.

During the first week of January, a series of suspicious packages was found in the cargo unloaded by a ship that had just arrived in Uddevalla from Colombia. After analyzing the contents of the packages, it turned out to be cocaine in an amount of about 25 kilos, says Gill Eriksson, Deputy Director of the Customs Crime Unit at the Customs Administration.

The ship sailed under the Dutch flag and had unloaded various goods in the US and the
Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, to then receive a shipment of coke [note: translation may refer to either the cocaine or a coal shipment] from Colombia to a Swedish company on the west coast. The coke was loaded in Barranquilla, Colombia and then went directly to Uddevalla harbor.

After the seizure, interviews were conducted with all 15 crew members, three of whom were suspected of involvement in narcotics trafficking. However, no arrests were made and the ship has left Uddevalla harbor with all her crew after unloading.

An extensive investigation is now underway.

Source: Tullverket [translated]