– This clearly shows that these are organized criminals who are involved in drug activities, Seier says acting first state attorney and prosecutor Benedicte Hordnes to NRK.
In Hordaland district court, four men and one woman are accused of having introduced 150 kilos of cocaine to Husnes in Kvinnherad in April last year. All are from Albania.
When they are charged as an organized criminal group, it is for the introduction of the largest cocaine seizure ever made in Western Norway. It is also the first seizure in Norway of drugs that were transported under a ship.
Surveillance cameras, tracking tags on cars and filming from a helicopter were central to the operation to arrest the defendants.
Read here about how the five people were arrested:
Had several mobile phones
One of the defendants – a 30-year-old man – pleads guilty after the indictment.
A sixth person was also charged, and will be mentioned in court during the review of the case. This man died in prison last year. The death is being investigated.
The six who were arrested are said to have had a total of eight phones.
They must have used these, among other things, for encrypted message exchange where they had nicknames.
They communicated with these before they entered Norway and while they were in the country.
Some of them came by plane, and some of them by car. In Norway they also rented cars which they drove to Husnes.
Here, the 26-year-old, the 30-year-old and the 27-year-old were photographed at a petrol station, during the day, the night before they were arrested.
Photo: The police
Revealed by equipment
The operation to get the cocaine to Norway begins when the ship “Nordloire” left Port au Prince in Haiti on 12 March 2024.
The ship docked in Vila do Conde, Brazil on 25 March, and departed on 28 March.
Then it was supposed to transport raw material for aluminum production to Norway, but somewhere along the way cocaine was stuck under the ship.
The method of transporting drugs under ships is called parasite trafficking. This is a well-known method that customs officers and the police have worked for a long time to uncover.
The cocaine was stowed under this ship and came from Brazil to Husnes.
Photo: Atle Helland
At the same time as the ship was on its way, so were the defendants.
Two underwater scooters in a car on the way into Larvik made customs officials suspicious.
Photo: Norwegian Customs
The revelation began when a man tried to transport diving equipment into Larvik in a German-registered car. With two underwater scooters in the car, customs officers became suspicious.
They tipped off the police, but let the man drive on.
He drove to a hotel near Gardermoen. Several of the defendants are said to have stayed there together.
Several of the defendants gathered at the reception at the hotel at Gardermoen.
Photo: The police
Got delivered
At Gjerdrum, two of the defendants, plus the accused, who is dead, were handed over the diving equipment from the man. The supplier must then have driven on.
A defendant was then on his way to Husnes by car, where he is said to have rented an Airbnb home.
The others followed the next day in two rental cars and rented another house.
The following day, the diver (45) and the woman traveled to a shop in Bergen. There they bought diving equipment worth around NOK 35,000. This was paid partly in cash, partly by Mastercard. The card was found on one of the defendants.
Two of the defendants at a shop that sells diving equipment in Bergen. The man on the right is the man accused of diving for the drugs that were hidden under the ship. The person on the right is accused of transporting the diver.
Photo: The police
After the ship from South America had docked at Husnes on 12 April, the defendants struck.
At 00.18 they were parked at the harbour, and at 01.25 they should have been working on the shore. They got the cocaine on land, and drove away from the ship in different cars.
They were then arrested in an armed police operation.
Here the persons were arrested.
Had packing equipment
The one person transported all four bags of cocaine. There was a total of 150 kilos of cocaine. Diving equipment was found in the other cars.
The cocaine was packed in bags and attached to the hull of the ship.
Photo: West police district
The yellow bags contained cocaine. This is one of four bags that the police confiscated.
Photo: West police district
150 kilos were taken.
Photo: West police district
A vacuum packaging machine, disposable gloves, packing tape and a lot of food were found in one of the tenements.
– I think this case is simple in terms of evidence. The five were caught while they were having an operation where they extracted this substance, says prosecutor Hordnes to NRK.
– Here it only applies to their intentions, and what they knew about what the bags contained.
Police in court
On the first day there was a statement from the prosecutor and then the 27-year-old had to explain himself.
There are up to eight uniformed and armed police in the hall at any given time. Two interpreters are also present in court for the defendants.
Photo: Kari Nygard Tvilde / NRK
The man said that he had worked both in Albania and for an employer in Italy. He came to Norway to take what he thought was a job in the construction industry.
He thinks he was tricked and that he didn’t know what he was getting into.
The case started today in Hordaland district court, and it has been seen for at least 10 days.
The defenders have so far not commented to NRK.
Kai-Inge Gavle is defending the 27-year-old who explained himself on the first day in court.
Photo: Kari Nygard Tvilde / NRK
