Police officer posed as courier in 2.3-kilo cocaine case

A man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for attempting to receive more than 2.2 kilograms of cocaine, mbl.is reports. A police officer posing as a DHL courier delivered the parcel to his home after police replaced the drugs with listening and tracking equipment.

The cocaine was concealed in a shipment from Sweden that arrived in Iceland on June 19 last year. Customs officers at Keflavik Airport stopped the parcel and found six vacuum-sealed packages containing 2,263.77 grams of cocaine, with a purity of 65 to 73 per cent. The packages were hidden among bed linen and inside an inflatable mattress. Daniel Kaczorowski was listed as the recipient.

Police removed the drugs and placed listening and tracking equipment in the parcel. The following day, an officer posing as a DHL courier delivered it to Kaczorowski at home. He had paid 13,011 Icelandic krona in customs duties and other charges and gone to DHL to collect it, but was told it would be delivered later. He signed for the parcel and was arrested shortly afterwards.

During the investigation, officers found a mobile phone hidden between a sofa cushion and its armrest. Kaczorowski initially denied owning it.

He denied the charges, saying he had neither ordered the shipment nor known it contained drugs. He told the court that he was in financial difficulty when he received notice of the parcel and decided to clear it without knowing what was inside, believing it might contain an electronic device.

The court found his explanation highly implausible, particularly because he had paid more than 13,000 krona for a shipment he claimed not to have ordered or expected despite his financial difficulties. It also noted inconsistencies between his statements to police and his testimony in court, including how he travelled to DHL and whether he had noticed unmarked police vehicles before the delivery.

Police had also intercepted a call between Kaczorowski’s brother and another person living at the home. The conversation indicated that Kaczorowski had told his brother two days earlier that someone wanted to make a deal with him. His brother warned him not to get involved in anything illegal and said he could end up in prison.

The court said the call suggested Kaczorowski had not arranged the importation himself, but had taken on the specific role of receiving the parcel. It found beyond reasonable doubt that he knew or should have known it contained drugs, or at least had been indifferent to that possibility. The court also found that he knew or should have known the cocaine was intended for sale and distribution for profit.