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1.4 tons of cocaine confiscated in one of Sweden’s “biggest seizures ever made”
Swedish customs made one of the country’s biggest-ever cocaine seizures after confiscating around 1.4 tons of the drug last week in a port near Stockholm, an official told Swedish television on Tuesday.
“If it is as big as we think, it is one of the biggest seizures ever made,” Stefan Granath of Swedish customs told broadcaster SVT, adding they were still waiting for a precise figure of how much was found.
The drug was discovered in a container in the Nynashamn port, south of Stockholm, on April 18, Granath said. Six men have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in its transport.
Granath said the drug likely was meant for the European market and that Sweden was only a transit country.”Just five to 10 years ago, it was very unusual to seize only 100 kilograms,” Granath told SVT.
A report published earlier this month found that criminal networks in the European Union are penetrating legal businesses across the 27-nation bloc. The networks are primarily involved in drug trafficking and corruption, according to the report.
In recent months European investigators have found large amounts of cocaine stashed in unique locations. Portuguese investigators found 1.3 tons of cocaine hidden in frozen fish shipments in March. Dutch investigators found 17,600 pounds of cocaine hidden inside crates of bananas last August – the largest haul ever collected in Rotterdam’s port, authorities said.
Profits from drug and arms trafficking have been invested in real estate, supermarkets, hotels and other commercial activities, the report said.
The volume of cocaine seized by Swedish customs peaked in 2022, when 822 kilograms were confiscated, according to official figures. This was more than 300 kilograms more than the previous record set in 2018.
Swedish radio said the figure reflected more efficient search methods and an increase in the flow of drugs in general.
A stowaway somehow made it onto a Delta Air Lines flight Tuesday from New York City to Paris without a boarding pass, officials confirmed.
The woman boarded Delta Flight No. 264 from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, CBS News learned. She was discovered while the plane was in midair and was taken into custody in Paris.
In a social media video posted by a passenger, the captain can be heard over the plane’s intercom — after the plane landed in Paris — telling flyers that “we’re just waiting for the police to come on board, they may be here now, and they’ve directed us to keep everyone on the airplane until we sort out the extra passenger that’s on the plane.”
The circumstances of how she was found were unclear, and her name was not immediately released.
A Transportation Security Administration source told CBS News that the woman went through an advanced imaging technology body scanner at a checkpoint in JFK Airport after somehow bypassing the document and ID check portion of the TSA process.
In a statement provided to CBS News, a TSA spokesperson said that it could “confirm that an individual without a boarding pass completed the airport security screening without any prohibited items. The individual bypassed two identity verification and boarding status stations and was able to board the aircraft.”
In order to be present at an airline departure gate for boarding, an individual must have cleared a TSA security checkpoint.
After getting through TSA security, it’s unclear how exactly the woman boarded the Boeing 767-400ER without showing a boarding pass or passport to Delta staff.
“Nothing is of greater importance than matters of safety and security,” Delta said in a statement. “That’s why Delta is conducting an exhaustive investigation of what may have occurred and will work collaboratively with other aviation stakeholders and law enforcement to that end.”
French law enforcement and the TSA are separately investigating. The woman could be subject to a civil penalty or fine for bypassing the document check process.
There is new technology known as e-gates that are being rolled out at airports which involves using biometrics to check travel documents as part of the international departure boarding process. Such technology would have caught the stowaway.
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