The Eastern Uusimaa police department on Saturday said it had wrapped up a preliminary investigation into a marijuana smuggling case involving a gang known as Mantaqa.
Police said they suspect the group, mainly composed of Finnish individuals, of procuring marijuana in Albania and mailing it to Finland via Spain.
Mikko Minkkinen, detective chief inspector at the Eastern Uusimaa police department, said that between January and February the group mailed some 70 kilos of marijuana to Finland. The drugs had a street value estimated at around 700,000 euros.
Police have so far recovered some 13 kilos of the smuggled narcotics.
Investigators said an Albanian man picked up the marijuana parcels from the post office using a fake identity. This suspect was taken into custody after being apprehended by police at a Tikkurila apartment rented by one of the main suspects, according to Minkkinen.
Once the drugs were in Finland, suspects packed the narcotics in vacuum sealed bags at an industrial facility in Nurmijärvi. From there, the bags ended up on the streets of Helsinki, Vantaa and Kerava.
The four main suspects are born in 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997. Five other individuals are suspected of aggravated narcotics offenses in connection with the case.