Customs got on the trail when a foreign campervan was stopped at the Öresund Bridge this summer. The vehicle contained two underwater scooters, which made the inspectors suspicious.
"It is a well-known practice that smugglers use divers to pick up drugs placed on ship hulls below the water surface," says Richard Johansson, group leader at the Swedish Customs' Criminal Investigation Department West, in a press release.
Followed the ship
A search operation was launched, which ultimately led to 170 kilos of cocaine – worth 160 million kronor to drug dealers – being found in two vehicles in Ljungskile. It later emerged that the suspected smugglers had visited a diving shop in Gothenburg and bought moving boxes and work gloves in Uddevalla during their time in Sweden.
"It is becoming increasingly obvious to us that the men are engaged in criminal activity in the local area and that it is a well-organized activity," says Richard Johansson.
Three men are now being charged with aggravated drug smuggling and aggravated drug offenses.
According to GPS data, two of the accused men traveled in a rented camper van from the port city of Huelva in southwestern Spain in mid-May. During the trip, they visited several areas where the ship in question was at the time, including Riga.
In all places there has been activity during the nights, writes the Swedish Customs.
Similar cases
In Uddevalla, the smugglers are suspected of having picked up a total of 240 kilos of cocaine that had been attached to the ship. However, it is unclear exactly who the frogmen were.
The method is known from ports around the world. In a similar case, also this year, the Swedish Customs received a tip about cocaine attached to a large cargo ship in Gothenburg. The drugs were seized, but so far have not been linked to any suspects.
It is difficult to estimate how common it is from a Swedish perspective, but the hidden number is probably large, Martin Norell, an expert at the Swedish Customs, told TT earlier this fall.
