Two Icelanders Arrested For Major Cocaine Smuggling Attempt In Australia

Two Icelandic men were arrested for smuggling and possessing nearly seven kilos of cocaine in Australia, the Herald Sun reports.

The total quantity was seized from two different arrests. The first stems from a 25-year-old Icelander who was arrested at Melbourne International Airport from Hong Kong. Australian Border Force noticed inconsistencies in the X-rays of his luggage, prompting them to search it, whereupon they found four kilos of cocaine hidden within the lining.

Investigators connected the man to a hotel room, and arrived on the scene to arrest the suspect’s accomplice. He was found to have had 2.7 kilos of cocaine at that location.

The smuggler was charged with importing and possession of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, facing a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty. He will re-appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on February 13. The man at the hotel faces the same charge, but has yet to be arraigned at the time of this writing.

While not prominent players in the global drug trade, Icelanders have been busted for smuggling significant quantities of cocaine every now and then. In 2014, one was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for attempting to smuggle 4.5 kilos of cocaine from Argentina to Spain. As it was his first offence, it was not expected that he would serve the full sentence, and may very well be a free man today.