On the night of Thursday 21 October, two customs officers at Åsnes border crossing seized 980 liters of alcohol wrapped in cartons with fake whiskey labels.
The driver, who was operating a Swedish-registered van with Danish signs, came across a small small road to evade customs control. The car was nevertheless observed by Norwegian customs officers on the Swedish side. He tried to flee from the police back to Sweden, but without success.
49 large cardboard boxes were found in the man’s car. In each of the boxes, customs officers found ten two-liter cans of counterfeit alcohol.
By September 2020 at the latest wrote TV 2 about a death related to methanol poisoning. About 20 years ago, as many as 18 Norwegians died after drinking smuggled alcohol.
The customs officers at Magnormoen made a record seizure in a trailer with building materials. See the clip at the top of the case.
– SEVERAGE: In the cardboard boxes, the customs officers at Åsnes found 980 liters of counterfeit alcohol. Photo: Customs
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Still a problem
Elisabeth C. Nettum, senior adviser in the Customs’ border division, remembers well the mentioned methanol case.
– The alcohol came from Spain and was smuggled into Norway, she says to TV 2.
She warns against buying alcohol and spirits elsewhere than at an approved dealer, such as Vinmonopolet or Swedish Systembolaget.
Buying liquor from acquaintances involves a great deal of risk, and you have no guarantee as to what the bottle contains. If you are lucky, the only consequence is that you have bought counterfeit goods, ie low-quality alcohol, she explains.
– There are several ways to falsify. A known mode is to use the original bottle and fill it with other alcohol, preferably diluted with water.
– Others produce both the bottles and the labels themselves, so that it will look like a real item. Both occur, although we see most of the latter.
– Elisabeth Nettum Foto: Toledo
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– Gambler with life
Nettum says that even for the customs officers, it can be difficult to point out the fake alcohol from the original.
– There is a lot of fake vodka, but also a lot of whiskey. There are some specific brands that recur. Now a lot of the fake alcohol comes from Lithuania and the Balkans. Generally a lot from Eastern Europe.
– What is not seized, where do you think it ends up?
– We think that it ends up in private homes, and in underground bars and clubs that sell alcohol without a license. Drinking such alcohol involves a great deal of risk, as you can never know where it comes from.
Nettum also mentions the well-known phenomenon of alcohol taxis, and states that it is a gamble to drink this alcohol.
– We who have teenage children want to take care of them. Shopping from an alcohol taxi is risky. The probability that they then buy counterfeit goods of low quality is high. The alcohol is usually taken illegally in Norway, and the origin is unknown, she says, and warns:
– In short: Do not buy illegal liquor.
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Seize 5000 liters
Summer 2020 the Customs revealed over 5000 liters of counterfeit alcohol, during a major international operation.
The same type of product took several lives in both England and the Czech Republic.
– Previously, large trailers came full of liquor. Such a truck can hold up to 20,000 liters of alcohol. But, we see less of that. Now they use small vans with smaller lots.
Nettum refers to the mentioned seizure of 980 liters of whiskey which was made at Åsnes last Thursday.
– They store larger consignments outside the borders, and transport them in vans in smaller quantities. They know we work with sign recognition, and therefore this car had fake, Danish signs. They try to deceive us, but we take them anyway, she concludes.
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