Cooperation between agencies in question / Article

The heroin shipment entered Germany by ferry from Liepāja, and the ultimate customer was intended to be in the Netherlands.

Hundreds of kilograms of heroin passed through the length of Latvian territory, with apparently nothing being done to stop it. 

German customs reported the seizure of a record-breaking heroin shipment in Travemünde – 450 kilograms. Rough estimates suggest that the value of such a shipment could be around 30 million euros and the seized amount is equivalent to approximately one-fifth of all heroin seized in all European Union member states during the year.

Information in the possession of “De facto”, suggests that customs informed the Tax and Customs Police about the contraband cargo, but no one tracked its passage through Latvia.

Ultimately, the drugs were confiscated by German customs, following the Latvian customs report. Consequently an internal service inspection has been initiated at the State Revenue Service (VID), reports “De facto”.

“The way in which it [information] is used is, of course, regulated by various internal regulations. And as for whether it was done quickly enough and whether it was timely enough, whether there was a sufficiently correct reaction, I have proposed a service inspection, during which it will also be determined whether something in this system needs to be improved,” Baiba Šmite-Roķe, Director General of the State Revenue Service (VID), told the program.

German customs authorities discovered the heroin while inspecting the cargo with a mobile X-ray machine. The drugs were packed in tightly sealed bags in 11,000 vials, which also served as air fresheners – with the scent of lavender. Since the mixture of gases and fragrances in the vials is highly flammable, simply opening them could have been explosive, so firefighters were also called in to help with the job.

“450 kilograms of heroin is a significant amount that was carefully hidden, but it did not remain hidden from customs officers. Good international cooperation also contributed to this success,” says Susan Hesse, press secretary of the Hamburg Customs Investigation Office.

The Hamburg Customs Investigation Office refused to provide more information to the “De facto” program, including about Latvia’s role in the investigation.

Most likely, the cargo came via the so-called Northern Route – it leads from Central Asia through Russia and the Baltic States, and on to central and western Europe.

The Latvian Customs Administration emphasizes that the cargo did not cross Latvia’s external border with Russia or Belarus, where the customs service operates. The heroin most likely entered Latvia from Estonia, though the cameras installed at border crossings on the country’s main roads did not record the vehicle’s arrival.

Nevertheless, the customs force passed on information about the possible drug shipment to the Tax and Customs Police, which is responsible for searching for contraband cargo inland.

“Unfortunately, we do not comment on specific operations, of course, but, in general, I can probably say that usually such operations do not take place in one day, they are long-term. (..) Yes, we have historically taken actions in connection with this event. I will not comment on a specific place, a specific time, because unfortunately we are not authorized,” says Aigars Prusaks, director of the Tax and Customs Police Department.

According to “De facto” sources, the Tax and Customs Police, upon receiving a warning about a heroin shipment, did not respond, claiming that such information had existed for some time. A similar response followed the supply of repeated, more precise information, down to the license plate number. When asked whether it was true that the Customs and Tax Police had repeatedly refused to verify the information, Prusaks replied: “I won’t comment. I think it probably wasn’t.”

A truck with heroin in air fresheners crossed the entire country to Liepāja. The customs information cameras operating in Liepāja near the port did not record this truck. Most likely, the truck went to the port via one of the surrounding minor roads, although there are signs prohibiting the driving of trucks there.

However, upon boarding the ferry, the car came into the sights of the Customs Administration and was effectively trapped – though it was not seized until it came to Germany at the end of a long overnight crossing of the Baltic Sea.

That events did not proceed smoothly is evidenced by a service inspection conducted by the Internal Control Department of the VID.

“After I learned about this fact, I had questions, I asked for explanations from two structural units of the State Revenue Service, namely the Customs Board, which had responded well and informed the German colleagues, and the other was the Tax and Customs Police, which will be separated from the State Revenue Service from next year, and upon receiving these explanations from the boards, I had additional questions, and I decided not to waste time, it is better to attract professionals who could then find answers to these questions that could potentially arise within the framework of the service inspection,” says Šmite-Roķe.

It is expected that the service inspection could last until mid-April.

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