Swedish Customs Warns Over Online Sleeping-Pill Imports: Nearly 1.4 Million Narcotic-Classified Tablets Seized Since 2024
Swedish Customs (Tullverket) warned on October 20 that people ordering narcotic-classified sleeping medicines from foreign websites face questioning even when the quantity is small and intended for their own use. In its new warning, issued via TT, Customs said almost 80 percent of the women it identified importing sleeping tablets were over 50, while the corresponding figure for men was around 60 percent; the figures describe the ages within each group, not women's and men's shares of all orders.
The agency said many buyers told investigators they previously had prescriptions which their doctors would no longer renew, and that paying VAT on a parcel does not make an otherwise illegal import lawful. Minor offences can result in a prosecutor's penalty order and a criminal-record entry, Customs said, and tablets from unknown sites may contain more dangerous substances than their packaging claims.
Customs said it seized almost 1.4 million tablets containing zopiclone, zolpidem or diazepam from 2024 through September 2026. The figures cover all seizures of those substances, not just small personal orders.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 药房内的药品货架（资料图），epSos.de 摄，CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
