The operation took place over several days last week, where the Police Authority led the work together with the Customs Agency, the Enforcement Authority, and the Coast Guard.
26,000 people and 15,000 vehicles were checked, and over a hundred crime reports were filed – including serious thefts, money laundering, and serious drug offenses.
We seized a large quantity of narcotics in Helsinki, amounting to several kilograms, and a large seizure of Tramadol tablets in Region West in Sweden, says operation leader Mikael Eliasson from the Police Authority.
For Mikael Eliasson, the large number of arrests stands out, with 23 people arrested in Sweden. According to him, the results of the operation show that the work needs to be more systematic.
It's a message to ourselves that we need to be more present at border crossings, regardless of whether it's by air, ferry, train, land, or bridge.
Among the seized stolen goods are cars, motorhomes, boat engines, GPS equipment, and agricultural machinery, with a total value of around five million kronor – a value that may increase as investigations continue. Seizures worth around four million kronor have also been made.
There are large values of stolen goods that we've found that we can return to the rightful owner in the long run.
The Swedish-led operation is part of two European operations against organized crime. On the one hand, it's Operation "Empact Trident", which targets organized theft, and on the other hand, Operation "Empact Observer", which targets synthetic drugs.
The countries that participated in the operation are Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Norway, and Iceland.
Europol and around twenty authorities from the countries participated with personnel in Sweden. The operation was led from Umeå.
Source: The Police
