An Estonian truck driver in his 40s has been held in custody for four weeks charged with stealing and smuggling salmon from Norway to the Baltics. In addition, the man has been charged with forgery.
SalmonBusiness has been granted access the arrest warrant dated September 19. The accused did not plead guilty at the hearing.
The man told the court that he did not know who he was carrying out the transport assignments on behalf of, or what the cargo contained – except that there was talk of “a kind of fishing”, to be picked up at Herøy, Western Norway.
The accused said he did not know exactly where the cargo was being delivered, other than that a logistics officer would take it to Riga, Latvia, when the driver had returned to Tallinn in Estonia. There were no accompanying documents in the car.
The man was stopped by police at the factory on September 13 when he was to retrieve the goods.
“We can confirm that the incident happened at Mowi on Herøy on 13 September. A foreign-registered vehicle loaded with salmon is wanted in this regard. What we do know is that this vehicle left Mowi on Herøy, and did not pass the expected customs location on Svinesund (the border cross between Norway and Sweden. ed.) as agreed. The truck we seized at Herøy was empty. The person we imprisoned was the driver of this truck,” said police officer Line Finsås Einrem to Helgelands Blad who first reported the case.
According to the newspaper, the police have started a major investigation and are working in other countries. One of the theories the police are working on is that trucks and registration plates are being replaced.
Mowi Communications Manager Eivind Nævdal-Bolstad told SalmonBusiness that the company is cooperating with the police and is providing the relevant information.
