The Court of Appeal upholds the district court's verdict for two of the three men involved in preparing for drug smuggling in Helsingborg's harbor. The sentence for the third man is increased.
The district court sentenced a man who had been employed in Helsingborg's harbor for nearly 30 years, along with a 49-year-old man, to two years' imprisonment each for, among other things, preparing for aggravated drug smuggling. Now, the Court of Appeal is upholding their sentences.
The crimes – far-advanced plans to smuggle cocaine from Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil to Helsingborg's harbor – were committed in 2020.
A third man is sentenced to nine years' imprisonment in the Court of Appeal for, among other things, attempting and preparing for aggravated drug offenses. In the district court, he was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.
He is also convicted of aggravated weapons offenses and aggravated drug offenses on other occasions.
It was in September 2022 that the Customs Agency found over 93 kilograms of cocaine in a container in Helsingborg. A couple of weeks later, the harbor police in Rotterdam discovered approximately 102 kilograms of cocaine in a container bound for Helsingborg's harbor. The cocaine was replaced with decoys, and the container was transported further to Sweden.
The investigation has primarily consisted of content from encrypted phones.