Appeal court largely upholds sentences in Joensuu cocaine ring

The Eastern Finland Court of Appeal has largely upheld sentences handed down in a major cocaine trafficking and sales case, with the longest prison term remaining nine years, Yle reported.

The North Karelia District Court sentenced 10 people in November 2025. The offences took place mainly in Joensuu. Authorities seized kilograms of cocaine from those convicted, along with significant quantities of other drugs, including amphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, cannabis and medicines.

Four defendants appealed. The appeal court upheld the nine-year sentence for Sami Tapani Sorsa, born in 1982. Although it considered some of the charges less serious than the district court had, it left the most serious offences unchanged.

The court reduced Mika Esko Henrik Sorsa’s sentence from five years to four. It found there was insufficient evidence for one aggravated drug offence and ruled that it should instead be treated as a standard drug offence.

Two other appellants had received suspended sentences of less than a year. The court upheld one sentence and reduced the other by a few months.

The case came to light in July 2024, when Finnish Customs seized a mail package from the United States containing three kilograms of cocaine. It was addressed to Nico Christian Bjerregård Madsen, who lived in Joensuu. He was sentenced to six years and 11 months in prison by the district court and did not appeal.

The convicted defendants can seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.