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Fine for record fish smuggle in Sweden

The Local Sweden
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Fine for record fish smuggle in Sweden
The fishy find. Photo: Norwegian customs

Two Lithuanian men have attempted to smuggle more than two tonnes of fish across the border from Sweden to Norway, in what is thought to be the largest ever seizure of illegal seafood in Norway.

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The men, one of whom was in his 40s and the other in his 50s, were stopped in their van over Easter on the Swedish side of the border at Bjørnfjell, it has emerged.
 
When their van was searched, customs officers found 50 crates of various fish including cod, halibut and haddock, weighing a total of 2200kg. 
 
“I've worked in customs and excise for 23 years and I can not remember having heard of such a large single seizure,” Thore Simenstad, a press officer for Norwegian customs told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
 
He said that the men had tried to run away but were caught one kilometre away and fined 20,000 kronor and stripped of their cargo before being released to complete their journey to Norway.
 
Fish smuggling is big business at the Norwegian border, with 5.5 tonnes of illegal fish seized by customs in 2014 and seven tonnes in 2013. 
 

Another snap of the illegal fish. Photo: Norwegian Customs
 

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