Mann claimed to have bought bulk-discount drugs for personal use – arrived from the Netherlands with thousands of doses

A 46-year-old man was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for aggravated drug trafficking after arriving at Kemi railway station in August 2022 with 88 grams of high-purity heroin, 36 grams of pure cocaine and eight methadone tablets used in substitution therapy.

The Lapland District Court and the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal rejected the man’s claim that the drugs were purchased for his own use, finding instead that the quantities—estimated at roughly 500 doses of cocaine and up to 3,000 doses of heroin—were intended for distribution.

The man, who lived in the Netherlands at the time, told police he had obtained a bulk discount by buying the drugs in large quantities. He also claimed his DNA was found on a drug package because he had tasted the substances on the platform at Kemi station.

Prosecutors presented evidence showing the man had travelled directly from the Netherlands to Finland via Sweden, and that the availability of cocaine and heroin in Kemi at the time was negligible compared with the Netherlands. Both courts ruled that the drugs were not purchased locally and that the sheer volume exceeded any plausible personal requirement.

The sentence was upheld on appeal in July 2026. The Court of Appeal noted that the drugs were significantly stronger than typical seizures and that the man had committed a serious offence shortly after being released on parole in February 2022, having previously been convicted of attempted manslaughter.