An Icelander was sentenced to prison for smuggling what he thought was cocaine, but was actually a legal chemical.
The man in question was stopped in December 2009, arriving from Berlin. Icelandic customs officials found a kilo of the substance under a false bottom of his bag, and arrested him on the spot.
The smuggler confessed to his crime in Reykjavík District Court, himself believing he had brought cocaine to Iceland. In actuality, the substance was fluoroamphetamine, which was legal in Iceland at the time. He was therefore acquitted.
However, the prosecution referred the matter to the Supreme Court, who in turn overruled the Not Guilty verdict of the district court, and sentenced the man to 15 months in prison. The reasoning behind the sentence was that even though the substance was legal, the crime the man committed was conspiracy to smuggle an illegal substance into the country.
The suspect is currently waiting to begin his sentence.
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