Over a tonne of heroin seized in Gdynia port. Three Poles detained
Officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation and customs officials seized 1,037 kg of heroin with a street value estimated at up to 220 million zloty in the port of Gdynia. This is one of the largest anti-narcotics operations in Poland in recent years.
Over a tonne of heroin seized in Gdynia port. Three Poles detained
In the port of Gdynia, officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation of the Police and the Pomeranian Customs and Tax Office seized 1,037 kilogrammes of heroin with a black-market value estimated at 156–220 million zloty. The operation took place in the second half of March, but was only revealed now due to ongoing proceedings.
Detentions occurred in early May as part of a nationwide operation. Two men and one woman aged between 33 and 43 – all Polish citizens – were apprehended. The court ordered the temporary arrest of two of them. Prosecutors charged them with attempted smuggling of significant quantities of narcotics through Polish territory.
Source: Notes from Poland
The entire matter began with information provided by the British customs service HM Revenue and Customs. According to data from the United Kingdom, containers with illegal goods may have reached the port in Gdynia. Polish officers inspected four containers arriving from the United Arab Emirates, declared as a shipment of decorative finishing tiles.
Detailed inspections, including X-ray scanning and work by a dog trained to detect narcotics, made it possible to establish that the declared cargo served to conceal packages of heroin.
For smuggling a significant quantity of heroin, the sentence ranges from a minimum of three years to a maximum of twenty years imprisonment. Investigators do not rule out further detentions.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Marcin Kierwiński, emphasised at a press conference that Polish services have intensified action against drug crime in recent months. He reported that over the past five months, 49 laboratories and four cannabis plantations had been closed, nearly 1,200 people arrested, and 83 people charged with leading an organised criminal group.
The Minister of Finance, Andrzej Domański, considered the seizure of heroin in Gdynia to be one of the largest operations not only in Polish history but also across the entire European Union. He pointed to the increased effectiveness of customs services thanks to investments in control infrastructure – the number of drug seizures increased from 422 in 2022 to 1,346 in 2025.
Customs officials from Gdynia recalled other major seizures in recent years, including the interception of 1,050 kg of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) in transport from China to Switzerland last year.
Source: Notes From Poland