Toll

The corona pandemic has arrived in Norway. Although car traffic is at a low level, wagon trains and vehicles with goods are allowed to enter the country. As darkness descends over Svinesund, a Slovenian truck rolls in across the border. This will turn out to be hiding a record seizure. At Oslo Airport Gardermoen, the pandemic has also left its mark. Most of the planes are on the ground, but one flight will get the blood rushing through the body of customs officer Steffen.

After the pandemic spread like a blanket over the world and led to strict border controls, major changes have taken place in the drug trade. There has been a sudden cannabis drought in Norway, and at Oslo Airport Gardermoen the customs officer Changiz is always looking to reveal new methods for introducing drugs. In Oslo, the customs laboratory receives a batch of toys that turn out to be prepared with THC, which is the most important drug in cannabis products such as hashish and marijuana

It has gone from red to yellow level in Norway. The customs officers at Svinesund have more to do. At Østlandsterminalen, where the customs officers check mail from abroad, there are constantly new - and often strange - discoveries. Among these is synthetic urine, which is clearly also something Norwegians need during the pandemic. At Oslo Airport Gardermoen, customs officer Changiz comes across a suitcase with six million Norwegian kroner in cash.

The pandemic continues. It has become part of everyday life, but not everyone has caught on to the current rules. The smugglers continue at almost the same pace, and at Østlandsterminalen, where they check mail, they make a record number of seizures per day.

In the season's first meeting with the customs officials at Magnormoen, we meet Lars. He stops a trailer driver who doesn't want to tell the truth. If you tell the truth in customs control, the control goes faster. If, on the other hand, you choose to lie, you give the customs officer good reasons to spend a long time.

Where do you hide what is not to be discovered? For many smugglers, there are no borders. There are always spaces, pockets and small cavities for illegal goods in, for example, a gearbox, a bib or maybe just in your panties?

At Svinesund, the customs officials Martine and Marthe try to seduce with music, while at Oslo Airport Gardermoen Changiz does not let the bag of goodies pass without an additional check.

At Oslo Airport Gardermoen, Steffen stops a man with a hat and hash inside. At the border with Sweden, at Magnormoen, customs officer Lars suspects a well-grown man with art in the back seat.

At Gardermoen, a familiar plant from a familiar destination appears. Ten miles further north, at Flisa, a rarely packed car stops.

When criminals are not allowed to enter the country themselves, "goods taxi" can be the solution. Illegal, private transport of goods across the border. At Magnormoen toll station they are stopped and taken.

Many smugglers do not want to expose themselves to the risk of being caught, and get others to smuggle for them, such as a mother-in-law.

On a deserted forest road, close to the toll booths at Magnormoen, some young boys appear who cannot explain why they are there.

It is red level because of corona, but at Svinesund the customs officers stop a British citizen. He is in a hurry, going to Drammen to deliver a sofa.

The smugglers' nightmare is a scanner or X-ray machine that reveals hidden contraband. It is not always so easy to cope with being caught.

Boats are controlled from a boat in Ytre Oslofjord. Both large and small vessels can hide contraband, and we join the Norwegian Customs' boat service out to sea. In addition to the sea route, parcels via the post are also a favorite smuggling route. The oldest trick in the book is revealed and gives the customs officers a good hold on the goods terminal at Gardermoen this time.

Whether people know or don't know what they are allowed to bring into the country is so and so. But Norwegians order tons of goods for themselves. And in some of these packages, the customs officials uncover people's strange hobbies as they try to smuggle in illegal and endangered animal species.

The customs officers never work alone. In an unpredictable everyday life, it's nice to know you have a good partner with you. A flashlight can prove to be a dangerous weapon, and when the customs officers least expect it, a trailer can roll in that hides something different in the cargo than it pretends to.

A young man is caught at Oslo Airport with a few too many bottles of wine, at the same time a woman in a nice car is stopped on a small road near Svinesund. One of them hides drugs worth several million kroner.

For the criminal networks, the individual courier is only a pawn in the face of the customs officials. Who are these couriers and why do they take the chance to drive across the border with contraband or to fill up their suitcases with drugs? Some need comfort, others refuse until the last appeal.