Customs authorities have seized 34 tons of meat smuggled into Norway so far this year. That's three times the amount seized in the same period last year.
Police, customs and officials from Norway's Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) have no doubt the smuggling has become organized. Several of the couriers caught with smuggled meat are repeat offenders, and the quantities of meat caught in some seizures is so large (2.8 tons on one truck stopped at the border crossing at Svinesund) that it can only be destined for the commercial market.
Per Jørgen Solbjerg of the customs agency told newspaper Aftenposten that some of the nabbed smugglers have openly admitted the meat was going to be sold to restaurants.
Most of the meat is seized at the Swedish border, especially at Svinesund. Officials suspect that the meat they actually find is only a small portion of that which eventually makes it into Norway. They think as much as 20 tons of meat is smuggled into Oslo alone every week.
A study released Tuesday confirmed that meat prices in Norway are high, 82 percent above the European average.
