Three men in their 20s were convicted and sentenced to between 7 and 8 years in prison for serious drug offenses, including involvement of minors in criminal activities. They are suspected of controlling the drug market in Västerbotten since 2023. According to officials, the men are suspected of handling large amounts of narcotics and recruited younger persons to carry out assignments, thereby involving minors in criminal activities. The crimes occurred from summer 2023 to December 2024 and included transport, storage, and sale of large amounts of drugs, according to the indictment. Multiple reports indicate the men used encrypted chats to offer 'jobs' related to drug activities. According to VK, two of the men operated the crimes from abroad, with one arrested at Arlanda after extradition from Thailand and another arrested in Portugal. Major media reports state one of the accused was in direct contact with gang leader Mikael Tenezos, who was extradited from Mexico. The men have denied the crimes and that they are the persons behind the aliases attributed to them by the police, officials said.
In a separate international case, authorities said a Florida couple disguised drugs as children's snacks and sold them in their Tampa neighborhood. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Renee Stephens, known as the 'Candy Lady,' was sentenced to 60 years in prison for fentanyl trafficking. Vincent Stephens was sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison, to be served consecutively to a prior 20-year sentence, according to multiple reports. The investigation began in August 2023 after a tip to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, major media sources report. Officials said undercover agents witnessed Renee Stephens handling fentanyl while holding her infant child during drug deals. On December 11, 2023, agents seized 153 grams of fentanyl, 100 fentanyl pills, marijuana, and 63 individually packaged drug-laced snacks from Stephens' home, multiple reports indicate. Authorities said Vincent Stephens orchestrated the drug operation from prison using phone and Facebook to coordinate deals. Renee Stephens was arrested in December 2023 and convicted in January 2026 on multiple charges, according to major media.
In Gothenburg, a gang leader from northeastern Gothenburg was convicted for serious drug offenses for the fifth time, major media reports. According to Göteborgs-Posten, the gang smuggled 170,070 Zolpidem sleeping pills from the Balkans hidden in a worn truck tire. The newspaper writes that customs police raided an abandoned house outside Angered while the men were portioning the pills for sale. According to GP, the gang leader received seven and a half years in prison and lifetime deportation to a country in the former Yugoslavia. GP writes that two of his adult children tried to stop the deportation, but the court ruled his recurring criminality outweighed family ties. Three others in the gang received up to five years in prison, the newspaper reports.
Three people from Piteå were convicted for serious drug offenses after a tip about a wobbly car ride on the E4 near Söderhamn, multiple reports indicate. Police found thousands of drug-classified tablets in the trunk of a red Toyota, according to major media. The drug setup stretched from Piteå to Örebro, sources said. One of the men had photos of large bundles of cash with a woman before a trip to Örebro to pick up drugs, major media reports. A woman and a man were arrested outside Gävle after being found sleeping in a car full of drugs, according to multiple sources. Large amounts of drug-classified tablets were seized when the woman and man were arrested, reports state. Three people were sentenced to long prison terms for serious drug offenses, major media confirms.
In Klippan, police found 1.3 kilograms of amphetamine in a woman's storage shed in December, with an estimated street value of about 267,600 kronor, multiple reports indicate. The duo were previously in a relationship and had continuous contact during the period, sources said. Two of the convicted are a 29-year-old and a 35-year-old from Klippan, sentenced to five years and seven months and five years and three months in prison, respectively, according to major media.
In Malmo, Farooq Abdulrazak and Juan Cifuentes were found shot and left in a rental car in Fosie, a suburb of Malmo, on July 14, 2024, research indicates. There was a third passenger in the rental car who vanished after crossing the Oresund Bridge into Malmo from Copenhagen, sources said. Swedish police launched a manhunt for the third individual in the murders of Abdulrazak and Cifuentes, according to research.
Sweden has the second highest number of drugs-related deaths in relation to its population of any EU country, according to a new report. Cocaine is becoming cheaper and more common in Sweden, leading to a dramatic increase in deaths related to the drug, according to a new investigation. A majority of Sweden's parliamentary Committee on Health and Welfare support re-evaluating Sweden's strict drug policies, members told broadcaster SVT. The proportion of adults in Sweden who regularly use cannabis is increasing, according to a new study. The number of reported narcotics-related offences in Sweden has increased, with police saying drugs are on an upward trend, research shows.
Recent enforcement actions include a 79-year-old Swedish woman sentenced to four months in prison for drug offences in Gävle, as local newspaper Gefle Dagblad reported. Two Swedish citizens have been arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of serious drugs and weapons offences, research indicates. Swedish Customs announced a drug smuggling charge has been filed in what was the largest ever narcotics seizure in Malmö. A man in Sweden has been charged with serious narcotics offences after police found 78 kilos of amphetamine in his car, research shows.
In Finland, two courts handed down sentences to members of extensive drug rings, with some connected to the Swedish gang Dödspatrullen, research indicates. The District Court of Helsinki convicted defendants of importing and distributing over 100 kg of marijuana, over 100 kg of hashish, over 90 kg of amphetamines, over 15 kg of cocaine, over 150,000 MDMA tablets, and about a million alprazolam tablets, sources said. The drugs were imported in 10 shipments, with the first by mail from Sweden to Finland and the next nine by truck from Sweden via Tornio to Hämeenlinna and the capital region, according to research. The court found that the defendants earned two million euros from their crimes, rather than the three million estimated by the prosecutor, sources indicate. The court ruled that nine of the defendants committed crimes as part of an organised crime group, while the prosecutor had argued that 13 had done so, research shows.
The Oulu district court sentenced a dozen people in another major drug case involving hundreds of kilograms of drugs brought from Sweden to Finland in 2022-23, research indicates. Alex Mohamed Al Khatib, a dual citizen of Sweden and Palestine, is considered the ringleader and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for numerous serious drug crimes, sources said. Helsinki's Court of Appeal increased the prison terms of five defendants in a drug case related to the Swedish gang Dödspatrullen to up to 13 years, according to research. The appeal court found that seven defendants had committed several crimes, particularly for importing drugs, deviating from the district court's decision, sources indicate.
In the Isle of Man, four men were jailed for being involved in the importation of cocaine to the Isle of Man on a ferry sailing, with the plan to take proceeds back to the UK, research shows. The plot was foiled by plain clothes police officers who made arrests in a hotel car park after drugs and cash were exchanged, according to sources.
Five men have been charged for using the island of Ven as a halfway point to smuggle drugs from Denmark to Sweden, research indicates.