From the Chief of Police in Suðurnes

The number of deportation cases at the border with Iceland at Keflavík International Airport has grown to 127 so far this year. Since 2010, the number of deportation cases has been higher on an annual basis for only three occasions. It can be assumed that this year’s number will decrease a bit, given the intensive police and customs work at Keflavík International Airport in the past few years. Hopefully, the measures will have some deterrent effects.

Positive media coverage helps and makes people think about the work of the police and customs at Keflavík Airport. At the airport, it is attempted to have the hands of those who have come here to commit crimes. Selling and distributing drugs or breaking national laws in other ways. Black business is not excluded.

Yesterday, a man in his thirties was arrested at Keflavík International Airport with cocaine in his luggage. He arrived on a flight from Spain. On the same day, a man in his 19th year of age was arrested for the same reason when he arrived in Iceland from France. His luggage contained cocaine.

After today, 25 people will be held in custody at the request of the Chief of Police in the South. These detainees have nationality in the following countries: Palestine, Syria, Spain, Guinea, Lithuania, Nigeria, Brazil, Spain, Greece, Algeria, Poland, Germany, Slovakia, France and Latvia. Most are detained because of illegal drug imports.

The pressure on the police in Suðurnes is high.

The Customs Service at Keflavík Airport is strong in its analytical work and has a number of skilled customs officers. In cooperation between the police and customs, the results in fighting organized crime are noteworthy.

Deportations at the border do not involve those arrested at the airport trying to enter the country with illegal drugs. They are arrested and held in custody and subsequently sentenced to prison.

In a memo, dated 13 March 2024, sent to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry was informed of the proposal that prison guards be employed to carry out custody in a prison house, the presence of defendants who import drugs inside and the transport of defendants to and from court. Today, police officers carry out these tasks. It is worth mentioning that it can take days, and in exceptional cases weeks, to return drugs from the digestive tract while a defendant is being held in a cell at the police station in Reykjanesbær. The Chief of Police in Suðurnes needs to be able to recruit police officers for law enforcement tasks, not for custody and transport of prisoners. A solution is not in sight.