450 kilos of heroin pass through Latvia, State Revenue Service launches probe

RIGA - In early February, German customs intercepted a record 450-kilogram shipment of heroin in Travemunde, which arrived by ferry from Liepaja, the Latvian public television (LTV) reported on Sunday.

LTV reported that the customs had informed the Tax and Customs Police about the suspicious cargo, but it was not traced until it left Latvia. The State Revenue Service (VID) has now launched an internal inspection into the incident.

The cargo was destined for a client in the Netherlands and was reported by the Dutch and Belgian authorities. The amount seized is equivalent to one fifth of all heroin seized in the EU in a year.

German customs detected the heroin by checking the cargo with a mobile X-ray machine, the drugs had been carefully hidden in air-freshener bottles, the broadcaster explains.

The Hamburg Customs Investigation Office has said that good international cooperation contributed to the success. The heroin probably came on the so-called northern route via Russia and the Baltic states.

According to the broadcaster, the Tax and Customs Police did not react to the alert about the heroin shipment, claiming that similar information had been available for some time, it had been checked and had not been confirmed. A similar response followed to repeated, more precise information, down to the car number.

The broadcaster pointed out that the VID has now launched an on-site investigation to clarify the circumstances of the incident.

LTV also reported that the investigation launched into the large heroin shipment through Latvia in late January has "slowed down" the transfer of Aigars Prusaks, the head of the VID Tax and Customs Police Directorate, to the post of the Tax and Customs Police chief.