Estonian sniffer dog finds nearly a ton of hashish in record bust
On Thursday, Tax and Custom Board official searched a truck attempting to drive to Russia from a Narva border checkpoint thanks to a sniffer dog. A total of 830 kilograms of hashish was found in the truck, double the combined amount of drugs confiscated in 2014.
Kadri Tammai, a spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office, told ERR a sniffer dog first alerted authorities, who searched the freeze trailer otherwise carrying flowers. The truck had Lithuanian license plates.
Authorities arrested the 48-year-old Lithuanian driver.
The bust, with a street worth of 16.6 million euros, is by far the largest drugs find ever in Estonia.
The Tax and Customs Board uncovered a total of 455 kilograms of drugs last year.
A man was handed a 11-year prison sentence last year for trafficking 100 kilograms of the same drug.
Correction: a previous version of the story said the truck drove in from Russia to Estonia.
Editor: J.M. Laats