Finnish Customs Enforcement 2018 Finnish Customs Enforcement 2018 1 Contents 3 Editorial 4 Crime overview 5 Customs Investigation 7 Online crime prevention 8 Illegal online trade 9 Snus – history and regulations 10 Snus cases and seized snus 10 Snus from Haparanda 11 Snus smuggling gang 12 Aggravated tax fraud using forged customs documents 13 Cigarettes from Latvia 14 Smuggling GBL 15 Sipulikanava – unrestricted narcotics sales in Tor network 16 Narcotics offences and precursors 18 Aggravated narcotics offences by men from Lithuania 18 Pharmaceuticals classified as narcotics, pharmaceuticals, doping 21 Doping substances from Bulgaria 21 Customs Laboratory tests and analyses 22 End of an online store 23 EU K9 Unit Network – international cooperation in canine operations 24 CBRNE – presentation of ongoing development activities 26 Product safety controls – toys and vegetables form majority of rejections 27 Manu – the Customs sniffer dog of the year Executive Editor Statistics Contributing writers Neffling Jonna Rakshit Sami Soini Saila Helin Jarkko Pakkanen Riikka Hellsten Erno Piirainen Angelika Editor in Chief Translation Hirvonen Esko Pitkäniemi Mika Hirvonen Esko AAC Global Järna Katrin Pylkkänen Ahti Kaario Reino Rakshit Sami Subeditor Layout Kallio Janne Ryyttäri Lasse Piirainen Angelika Jalo Tuuli Kangas Paula Sorvali Jyri Kunnari Tuomo Sulander-Seppänen Tiia Photographs Publisher Käsnänen Arja Szilvay Ilmari Cooperation partners Enforcement Department of Lukkarinen Pasi Tuulenkari Kimmo Customs Finnish Customs Mansikkamäki Timo Typpö Saulo ISSN 2242-3265 Cover T2 terminal in the West Harbour of Helsinki 2 Finnish Customs Enforcement 2018 Editorial WHAT NEXT? (SO WHAT OR WHAT NEXT?) mutual competition. At says, virtual reality, artificial intel- the same time, managers ligence and robots will not take and supervisors need to over our work. These will certain- see to it that daily tasks ly offer much help, as long as we offer motivation and that can harness them to support us. employees are allowed We also need to be patient. If we to develop their compe- take digital leaps that are too long tence. This also requires and rush into things unnecessar- that we adopt new tech- ily, our operational development Yet another year is behind us. Yet nologies and continue to learn. cannot keep up with technological another year that can be charac- The world around us is chang- advancement. The thing is that work terised by “less is more.” In addi- ing and evolving – how about us? that requires interaction between tion to finally being able to stop We are no longer able to foresee people and will be done by actual our budget deficit for the first time upcoming changes in our operating people. during this decade, our results were environment. Can we ready our- However, we need to start in- once again excellent. I would like to selves for changing situations and vesting in the methods and skills thank all our employees in the cus- are we able to react quickly when in which Customs specialises and toms enforcement sector for a job necessary? Tools and skill require- which we can turn into national (in- well done. Although there are al- ments develop along with tech- ternational even) spearheads. These ways changes, with the next ones nologies and understanding. Are we areas where we are already good at already being on the drawing board, capable of continuous development and where we want to be pioneers some of which are a success, while and, in particular, advancement? Are in the future are certainly related to some are waiting to be implement- we ready to carry out more de- data – its procurement, classifica- ed, our employees are always com- manding tasks, more independently? tion, assessment and analysis. mitted and productive! This is sim- More and stricter requirements Some data is given to us, some ply incredible! will be set to ensure that authori- we need to retrieve from our cus- At long last, we are starting to ties comply with legislation. Can we tomers, and some we also need to see new faces in our local work- still have an impact on our work in collect without the target’s know- ing communities. By holding on to order to lighten the conventional ing. This applies to all enforcement these new customs officers and ways of working and our work pro- sectors, in which the systematic integrating them into our units, we cesses? Government resources will and comprehensive collection of can make sure that we only lost not increase. How can we ensure data will be emphasised in order one generation during our ten-year that our employees are motivated to maintain our high level of quality financial slump. and engaged under heavier work- and productivity, also in the future. Recruitment processes will con- loads? tinue at the same pace this year So many questions, so few an- Thank you all for our experiences and as well, and every one of us needs swers. I hope that we are all ready accomplishments in 2018! to ensure that our working com- to move on and to find proper so- munities maintain their welcom- lutions, even if not all of these ques- Sami Rakshit ing atmosphere, bringing people tions have straightforward answers. Director of Enforcement together and encouraging others to No matter what anyone else Finnish Customs Enforcement 2018 3 CRIME OVERVIEW The total number of customs of- gling is still going strong, for exam- Classic narcotics have kept their fences investigated by Customs de- ple, in the illegal trading of conven- position alongside new substances. creased in 2018 from the year be- tional narcotics, and cash has not Cannabis is still used frequently, fore, partly due to a decrease in the fully lost its importance in criminal but it seems that marijuana is more number of basic narcotics offences. activities. common than hashish. A record Considering the overview, the most amount of marijuana was seized, recent phenomenon in terms of Narcotics and compared with the past five years, customs offences is the exponential pharmaceuticals mainly from air passengers from increase in the illegal trading of snus, Spain. alongside an increase in new narcot- As the number of basic narcot- The amount of methampheta- ic substances. ics offences is decreasing, the num- mine decreased significantly last Regulation on snus resembles ber of aggravated narcotics offenc- year, even though amphetamine the prohibition, which has made es has remained high as in previous in general has a strong foothold snus an attractive commodity to years in cases investigated by Cus- among the most addictive narcot- smuggle for young amateurs and toms. One reason for this is that ics in Finland. This is also proven by also increasingly for profession- the smuggling of particularly dan- wastewater surveys. According to als who have previously operated gerous narcotics into Finland has these surveys, the use of cocaine in other fields. Arguably, the use of not slowed down. seems to be increasing. This is also snus is estimated to be more com- During many years, significant supported by the amount of co- mon now than when it was legal. amounts, even on an international caine Customs seized last year. In other words, prohibitions have scale, of new psychoactive sub- The total amount of narcotics not reduced any health problems stances have been discovered in seized by Customs decreased sig- but given birth to a new profitable Finland, mainly originating in China nificantly last year due to the lower criminal enterprise. but ordered from European mar- amount of imported khat. In recent years, customs offenc- ketplaces via the Darknet. es have increasingly shifted towards Last year, several furanylfentanyl Economic crime online trading. Due to its speed and cases were also uncovered where ease of use, it offers an excellent the darknet was used to order Last year, an increase in all forms setting for illegal purposes. In addi- substances. Fentanyls have already of tax frauds was the most notable tion, new cybercurrencies that are caused multiple deaths in Sweden change in economic crime investi- difficult to track have made it easier and Estonia. As regards pharmaceu- gated by Customs. Tax frauds have to pay for illegal articles than when ticals classified as narcotics, Sub- mainly involved high-tax products using conventional payment instru- utex which is imported from France such as cigarettes, snus and cars, as ments. However, old-school smug- seems to maintain its popularity. well as value added tax. Crime overview 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Offences 9 879 9 656 9 581 9 409 8 943 Suspects of offences Foreigners total 4 225 4 010 3 216 2 902 2 919 All suspects 9 036 9 066 8 950 8 525 8 222 Impact of customs crime prevention (EUR million) Recovered proceeds of crime 17.50 10.70 19.30 28.00 26.10 Value of goods not seized 82.20 1.79 197.40 5.03 4.17 Evaded taxes 26.50 3.45 8.12 48.11 8.64 Total 126.20 15.94 224.82 81.14 38.91 4 Finnish Customs Enforcement 2018 ported from Russia hidden inside Customs offence investigations (number) – Illegal imports compartments in lorries and vans. in 2018 A positive change is expected, as Source: Customs Laboratory cigarettes were added to the list of strategic articles in Russia. Products 3 Alcohol on this list are monitored closely 427 Doping both in terms of imports and ex- 2 284 Narcotics ports. 544 Narcotics medicines Last year, the Federal Customs Service of Russia reported cigarette 456 Goods banned from the consumer market batches on their way to Finland that 680 Medicines it had stopped. 54 Unclassified narcotic substance 33 Other crime-related samples Impact of crime 353 Negative results prevention by Customs The impact of crime prevention by Customs has been monitored for 25 years using comparable indica- The number of environmental last year, making the year an excep- tors.