Car coming from Latvia conceals 111 kg hashish

Photo: EMTA

Officials of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board found over 111 kilograms of hashish from a car that traveled from Latvia to Estonia in the middle of July.

On July 16 a BMW that was driven by a resident of Narva passed through the Valga border crossing point in southern Estonia. The car was stopped in Kalmakula village, East-Viru County by the officials of the board and in the course of an inspection 111.5 kilograms of hashish was discovered from special hiding places in the car. The Viru County Court issued a warrant for the driver to be taken into custody and criminal proceedings were opened.

According to head of the investigation department at the Tax and Customs Board Rain Kuus it was an international drug transit. «The investigation in progress shows that the substance came from Western Europe and was meant to be distributed outside Estonia,» Kuus said.

It is one of the biggest drug discoveries on the souther border of Estonia in recent years. «We captured a vehicle that has been customized to take narcotic substances from Western Europe to Estonia. I am glad that we have managed to remove yet another considerable amount of narcotic substances from the contraband market which is definitely an important step in the fight against contrabandists,» he added.

The stopping of contraband traffic is one of the main priorities of the Tax and Customs Board.