Court reduces sentences for rural drug ring members after washing machine stash discovery

The Rovaniemi Court of Appeal has shortened the prison sentences of two men convicted in a large-scale drug trafficking operation that distributed narcotics to small Finnish towns, Yle reports.

A Lithuanian man, Julius Pukys, originally sentenced to nine years for smuggling and aggravated drug offences, had his term reduced to eight and a half years. The court found him responsible for importing three major shipments of amphetamines and cannabis into Finland in 2024, with street values exceeding €600,000. Most of the drugs were seized by police, including a multi-kilogram amphetamine stash hidden inside a washing machine in a Lapinlahti storage shed.

Two Finnish accomplices—Eetu Valtteri Kurkela and Ismo Juhani Hassinen—were also convicted. Kurkela’s sentence was lowered from three years and four months to three years, as the appeals court ruled his role in storing and packaging drugs was not central. Hassinen’s four-year term remained unchanged, deemed already lenient.

The drugs were distributed to locations including Suonenjoki, Lapinlahti, Oulu, and Kajaani.