Finnish court upholds 13-year sentence in major drug trafficking case

Rovaniemi Court of Appeals on Monday delivered its ruling in a major drug trafficking case, in which an organized but unnamed criminal group smuggled hundreds of kilograms of drugs from Sweden to Finland in 2022 and 2023, Yle reports.

The court upheld the 13-year prison sentence for the main suspect, Alex Mohamed Al Khatibia, for multiple aggravated drug offenses. The ruling states he led the drug operation from abroad.

The appeals court modified some of the lower court’s verdicts. It found three defendants guilty of aggravated money laundering or money laundering in two counts, rather than aggravated drug offenses. It also ruled that one defendant was guilty of aiding aggravated drug offenses in two counts instead of the more severe charge.

The court dismissed one aggravated drug offense charge but convicted three defendants of aggravated drug offenses, charges that the district court had previously dismissed.

The court agreed with the district court that ten defendants had committed their crimes as part of the organized criminal group’s activities.

The drugs involved included nearly 95 kilograms of amphetamine, over 110 kilograms of hashish, 47 kilograms of marijuana, and more than 2 kilograms of cocaine. The drugs smuggled from Sweden were distributed in Finland across 14 separate trips.

Oulu District Court initially convicted 21 defendants in the case, most receiving long prison sentences for aggravated drug offenses. Of those, 15 appealed to the court of appeals, contesting nearly all the charges.