Drug case with 5 kg of amphetamine before court in Sortland – man faces up to 5 years in prison
A major drug case involving three defendants will come before the court in Sortland in January 2027. The main defendant faces between 3 and 5 years in prison.
Three men charged with large-scale drug trafficking in Vesterålen
An extensive drug case involving over 5 kilograms of amphetamine and 2 kilograms of cannabis will be heard at Midtre Hålogaland district court in Sortland, according to vny.no. Five days have been allocated for the case from 18 January 2027.
Three men – all around 40 years old – are charged in the case, which has been unravelled by police in Vesterålen. One of them is described as the central figure: a man resident in Vesterålen who allegedly received assistance from a man from Trøndelag and another Vesterålen resident to organise purchases and sales on a large scale.
The majority of the charges relate to autumn 2024, but some more recent matters are also included.
Converted to user level, the quantity of amphetamine corresponds to an estimated 20,000–25,000 individual doses, whilst the cannabis amounts to approximately 7,500 doses. The value of the substances – sold in small quantities to users in Vesterålen and Northern Norway – may exceed 3 million kroner according to vny.no.
The police also seek to confiscate 500,000 kroner from the main defendant as proceeds from criminal activity. During the investigation, the police have already seized almost 3 kilograms of amphetamine and almost 700 grams of cannabis as well as a number of mobile telephones.
The three defendants are jointly charged under one indictment from the prosecutor, in which the police assert that the group has operated as an organised criminal group. This opens the possibility of applying the so-called "mafia paragraph" in the criminal code (§79c), which provides for a theoretical maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison – although this is unlikely to be relevant in this case.
What the final charge will be at the court hearing has not yet been determined. The main defendant faces a likely sentence of between 3 and 5 years in prison, based on comparable cases. He is additionally charged with driving under the influence and with less serious offences such as shoplifting.
Source: Google News DK — Crime (da)