Drug smuggling could disrupt Iceland’s fish exports

Iceland’s fish exports could be harmed if the country is used as a transit point for drugs, Karl Steinar Valsson, head of the national police commissioner’s security and analysis division, warned in an interview published by mbl.is.

If foreign authorities began inspecting every shipment from Iceland, it could disrupt trade that depends on rapid delivery, including exports of fresh fish.

Valsson said it was not yet clear whether all the drugs seized by police this year were intended for the Icelandic market. Some may have been destined for onward transport to other countries.

He recalled cases from his time leading the police drug division in which people set up companies to begin exporting from Iceland, then later introduced drugs into their shipments. The aim was to establish a route that would not initially attract suspicion in the receiving country.

Valsson said smugglers might regard Iceland as a safe transit point before moving drugs onward. He said police had seized a very large quantity this year, but the drugs’ final destinations remained uncertain. Increased police analysis of information had helped identify drugs, he added.

Organised crime linked to Iceland can be directed from abroad and partly carried out in other countries, Valsson said. Tackling it requires access to information from other states, as well as investigators, specialists and greater technical capacity. More specialist police officers are only one part of the response.