Customs officers in Bergen found 100 kilograms of hashish hidden in a car that had arrived on the ferry from Denmark on 5 September 2017.[1][2] The driver and passenger told officers they were holidaying in Norway, but customs staff suspected smuggling and searched the car with the help of the drug-detection dog Tara.[1] Customs Today reported that the couple were caught following a tip-off.[2]
Officers found 55 kilograms in the boot and further packages of 20 and 25 kilograms in secret compartments under the floor.[2] A Dutch man and woman were arrested.[1][2] Police and customs called it the largest hashish seizure ever made in Bergen.[1][2]
Police put the street value at about 11 million kroner and believed the drugs were meant for the underground market in Bergen.[3] The head of border inspection in Bergen, Age Skar, said it was by far the biggest cannabis haul the city had seen.[3]
The arrested woman was seriously ill.[3] In Bergen District Court on the Tuesday before her death, she testified that she and her partner had made more trips to Norway in 2017, while denying the charges and saying they did not know what was in the car.[3] She died at Haukeland University Hospital on the Friday night, five weeks after the arrest.[3] Her partner remained in custody as the police continued the investigation.[3]
