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CRIME

Danish police lift lid on country-wide cannabis network

A Danish police investigation into a cannabis trade network has revealed connections all over the country.

Published: 20 November 2017 11:51 CET
Danish police lift lid on country-wide cannabis network
File photo: Kenneth Meyer/Polfoto/Ritzau

A transport company in East Jutland, a furniture upholsterer, a daycare centre in central Zealand, an amateur football club outside Copenhagen, a car painter and a bankrupt company on the island of Lolland are all connected to the wide-ranging investigation, reports Ritzau.

Addresses and companies across Denmark have been connected to the case.

Ten men and one woman have been detained as a result of the investigation into the smuggling and dealing of at least 2.4 tonnes of cannabis. Copenhagen City Court will on Wednesday decide whether to prolong the preliminary imprisonment of the group.

1,100 kilograms have been seized by police, who have so far not tracked down the remaining amount.

A central figure in the case is an East Jutland businessman who owns both a transport and a furniture company, according to the report. According to the police charge sheet, he is accused, along with the woman, of smuggling the cannabis into Denmark.

The two made deliveries of the substance to the addresses of the transport company and the car painting firm on a number of occasions, according to the charge sheet.

A carpenter from Zealand received the deliveries at both locations and, with the help of other individuals suspected of being involved with the network, then moved the cannabis on to further localities – including a transaction at an address in the town of Lejre at which a daycare centre is placed.

A further transaction took place at the address of a football club in Taastrup near Copenhagen. The football club itself has no connection to the case.

Additionally, a Danish citizen based in Fuengirola near Malaga, Spain is suspected of involvement in the network. The man is a former director of a now-bankrupt transport company based on Lolland.

The other suspects acted in accordance with the man’s “instructions or prior arrangements”, according to the charge sheet.

The case will now be assessed behind closed doors in court.

All of the suspects are in their thirties or forties. Two have admitted dealing cannabis, but all have denied the more serious charge of organised cannabis smuggling and trade.

READ ALSO: Denmark police arrest 12 connected to cannabis smuggling network

CRIME

Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Crime in Copenhagen’s hippie enclave of Christiania is increasing, police in the capital say following a number of drugs-related arrests.

Published: 27 March 2023 13:57 CEST
Why Copenhagen police say crime is on the up in Christiania

Copenhagen Police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the alternative enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the area’s former open-air cannabis market. 

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years. 

A possible explanation for the increase in arrests could be that the rewards for operating hash stands have receded, according to a police spokesperson.

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, head of a Copenhagen Police special unit, told newspaper Politiken.

“It’s a bit – in inverted commas – ‘easier’ for us to catch these people,” he said. 

Around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania, the Berlingske newspaper reported earlier this month.

The trend of rising crime occurs against a background of potential housing develop in Christiania, as the enclave’s residents decide on a plan to put affordable housing in the area.

Copenhagen Police last year told news wire Ritzau that the majority of people who are arrested within Christiania come from socially underprivileged or marginalised backgrounds.

They are exploited in gang and biker circles, resulting in them in some cases operating the illicit hash market stalls, according to the police.

Conflicts between organised crime groups have reportedly become more frequently aired in the Pusher Street market.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s ‘freetown’ Christiania hangs onto soul, 50 years on

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