In Sweden, police officer Björn Pettersson made a record cocaine seizure worth 20 million kronor in Västerbotten in the spring, for which he has been named police officer of the year. The seizure occurred on Valborgsmässoafton in 2025 during speed checks on the E4 south of Nordmaling, where a gray Skoda was stopped for driving slightly over 50 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. Several packages containing cocaine worth 20 million kronor were found in the stopped car, leading to the driver's immediate arrest and later sentencing to six years and six months in prison for serious drug offenses.
Two other men were also sentenced for involvement in the smuggling, and in late March, Björn Pettersson was awarded a prize by the emergency services magazine Samverkan 112. Separately, the Police, Customs, and Coast Guard collaborated in an operation in Oxelösund to enhance cooperation and security in heavily trafficked ports. Approximately 150 vehicles and five ships were checked in Oxelösund, resulting in traffic fines, suspicion of drug offenses, and a minor seizure of cigarettes.
In the UK, a nationwide crackdown on county lines drug distribution saw a total of 2,180 people arrested, with nearly 800 children discovered and safeguarded, many exploited into selling drugs. 5 million in cash. The number of county lines across the UK has risen from 4,503 in 2020/21 to 6,544 in 2024/25.
In Scotland, police made 43 arrests as part of a month-long crackdown on county lines gangs, seizing drugs worth £900,000, including crack cocaine, heroin, and ketamine. During this Scotland crackdown, 38 vulnerable people were safeguarded, as they were being exploited by England-based crime groups, and there are 12 crime groups involved in county lines dealing in Inverness. Police seized nearly 1,000 knives in one year from county lines drugs gangs that recruit children, and forces believe they have prevented 800 stabbings over one year, based on a fall in hospital admissions.
To bolster these efforts, the Home Office will announce a new £34 million drive to fight the trade, with a goal of halving knife crime within a decade. Meanwhile, a major people smuggling network accused of transporting around 1,000 migrants into the UK has been disrupted following coordinated arrests across Britain and Europe, with the network arranging more than 200 crossings from France to the UK, transporting over 1,000 migrants and generating an estimated €50 million in turnover. Migrants were charged up to €50,000 for the full journey from Vietnam to Britain, with £8,000 to £10,000 for the final leg from France to the UK.
In a separate case, police arrested a gang that smuggled up to 20 Albanians into the UK, while in Australia, a group of prominent racing identities has been charged over an alleged billion-dollar cocaine smuggling conspiracy. 5 tonnes of cocaine, with a total value exceeding $1 billion, but none of the alleged cocaine importation attempts were successful, and no drugs were ultimately imported. 6 million have been jailed, having delivered more than 170 kilograms of high-purity cocaine to locations across the UK in just four months.
In the Netherlands, 50 kilograms of cocaine were seized by Dutch customs in Rotterdam, hidden in a container of bananas from Ecuador, with a street value in Norway of up to 50 million kroner, and five Danish men were arrested in Norway in connection with the seizure, suspected of being part of a larger organized network. In the UK, a Nottingham grocery store owner was arrested on suspicion of masterminding a £40 million international cigarette smuggling network, with over 40 tonnes of illegal cigarettes worth around £40 million seized in the investigation. In Scotland, Operation Lockstream saw police engage with more than 660 people travelling in and out of the country using airports, roads, and ferry terminals across three days of action which began on Tuesday, February 24, with 78 flights met at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports.
Over the course of Operation Lockstream, £7000 worth of cash was seized, four people were arrested in connection with drugs, road traffic and immigration offences, and a key aim was to safeguard vulnerable people at risk of exploitation. Police Scotland officers worked closely with partners from the National Police Chief’s Council, Border Force, Home Office Immigration, His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and the Scottish SPCA throughout Operation Lockstream. 1 million has been discovered at a derelict former school in Wick following a Police Scotland–led investigation supported by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.
On Thursday, 29 January 2026, officers acting on intelligence executed a warrant at a building on West Bank Avenue, uncovering a sophisticated cannabis cultivation including more than 5,900 cannabis plants and dried cannabis. The dried cannabis alone is estimated to have a street value of £456,000, and seven individuals have been arrested and charged in connection with the matter, with three individuals – two men aged 44 and 27 and a 17-year-old male youth – appearing at Wick Sheriff Court on Friday, 30 January 2026. The CNC provided specialist support to the operation, including the deployment of trained officers and a general purpose police dog from its Dounreay Operational Policing Unit.
According to new data, 2,740 County Lines were closed and 1,657 gang leaders charged.