A few days before Christmas, a man in a security guard uniform picks up two packages at a delivery point in Västberga, south of central Stockholm.
The packages contain narcotics. But what the man doesn't know is that the Customs Service has already put the mail under surveillance – and shortly afterwards, he is arrested outside an apartment on Gärdet in Stockholm.
This marks the beginning of a large drug network where nine people are now being prosecuted for, among other things, aggravated drug offenses.
There are a lot of different preparations. It's about hundreds of thousands of tablets, says prosecutor Mats Ihlbom.
"Organized league"
The individuals are alleged to have received orders, packaged, and then distributed narcotics to thousands of drug buyers across the country.
This has likely been going on for several years, we believe, and it appears to have been a very organized league, says Kristian Johansson, head of the Customs Service's criminal division East.
In the apartment on Gärdet, the Customs Service finds a packaging center for narcotics and large quantities of narcotics of various kinds: cocaine, amphetamine, MDMA, cannabis resin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and ketamine.
The Customs Service also finds counterfeit narcotic tablets containing the synthetic opioid metonitazen.
It's an extremely potent preparation. Really life-threatening. Over 30 people have died from it so far this year, says Kristian Johansson.
"Good evidence"
During the investigation, eight more people are linked to the network, which has used several apartments around the Stockholm area.
The work is suspected to have been carried out on behalf of a seller on the Darknet sites Flugsvamp 4.0 and Archetyp. In the investigation, large registers of buyers' names and addresses have also been found.
In total, eight men and one woman are suspected. Prosecutor Mats Ihlbom describes the investigation situation as good.
We have a lot and good evidence. It will take some time to go through everything, but it looks good, he says.
