DUNCAN ISLAND

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Drug smugglers sentenced to 12 years in prison

Four men have been sentenced by the court in Svendborg on Nov 30, 2020, to 12 years in prison each for attempting to smuggle 100 kilos of cocaine which was thrown overboard from the 'Duncan Island' off Langeland, where three men in a motorboat picked up the drug and brought it ashore. The prosecution had demanded that the smugglers be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Three of the convicts are Polish citizens while the fourth is Russian. One of the convicts, a 48-year-old Latvian man, had a job as an electrician on board the container ship that was underway loaded with agricultural products from Ecuador to Russia. It was the electrician who dropped the four waterproof sacks with 100 kg. hard drugs in the sea off Langeland. The cocaine was subsequently brought ashore and had to be transported further by car when the police, who had received a tip about the case and arrested the men. Another police force boarded the ship south of Gedser. Initially, the entire crew was arrested, but except for the accused Latvian sailor, all were released again. It is not stated whether the convicts or the prosecution wanted to appeal the verdicts.

Drug find on court in Svenborg

A suspicious nylon bag, "dummies" and a Danish SIM card were found on the 'Duncan Island' in a large cocaine bust on Feb 15. The prosecution alleged that four men collaborated to smuggle 100 kilos of cocaine from the ship to Denmark when it sailed past Langeland. A police investigator found a nylon bag in the engine room, he reported on Nov 13, 2020, at the Court in Svendborg, where three Latvians and a Russian were accused of smuggling 100 kilos of cocaine into Denmark. The officer was still stunned by the find. The bag was exactly the same type as the one in which the 100 kilos of cocaine were packed when the police found the drugs in the back of a Hyundai that two of the defendants were driving in when they were arrested. In fact, both the sacks in the ship's engine room and the car's trunk were also both contaminated with lubricating oil. The prosecution was of the opinion that one of the accused - a 49-year-old Latvian citizen who worked as an electrician on the ship - dropped four waterproof sacks with 100 kilos of cocaine overboard from the ship in the waters off Langeland. After this, two conspirators should have sailed out in a boat from Spodsbjerg to pick up the drugs. According to the indictment, they transported the cocaine back to the Port of Spodsbjerg, where they and a third man stored the cocaine in the Hyundai. One of the two boat drivers stayed at the harbour, where he was later arrested, while the other two drove towards Tranekjær. They were both arrested shortly after leaving the port. The investigator also found what he calls "dummies" in the ship's engine room. He explained that it were wooden blocks that were cut out the same size as the packages of cocaine. He suspected the purpose was to be able to figure out how to pack the cocaine in the bags. In addition to the nylon bag and the so-called "dummies", the investigator found two SIM cards and the packaging from a SIM card in a drawer at the electrician's workshop. The packaging was from a SIM card of the brand Lycamobile, and the text on the packaging was in Danish. He said that he suspected that the sim card should be used to communicate with someone in Denmark. Police were lurking ready to catch cocaine smugglers as the ship sailed past Langeland on its way to St. Petersburg in February. According to a tip from the Swedish customs authorities, the police expected that 200 kilos of cocaine would be thrown into the water in the area from a container ship that was to sail from South America to Russia. The case is expected to end on Dec 3.

Lawsuit regarding cocaine smuggle starts in Svendborg

The lawsuit after the landing of more than 100 kilos of cocaine from the 'Duncan Island' off Langeland in February 2020 started in Svendborg on Nov 6. Four men were on trial in the case, including a 48-year-old Latvian crew member of the ship. According to the prosecution, the sailor dropped the many kilos of cocaine overboard in four waterproof sacks, which were subsequently picked up by three men who had sailed out into the Langeland Belt. The cocaine was subsequently brought ashore and was to be transported further by car when the police, who had received a tip about the case, arrested the men. Another police force also boarded the ship in the waters south of Gedser. Initially, the entire crew was arrested, but except for the accused Latvian sailor, all were released again. The trial has been scheduled for five hearings, the last of which will be in early December.