The prosecution went for the highest possible measure for a young man from Portugal who was accused of importing large quantities of cocaine and hashish into Greenland. But it just ended with a sentence of five months in prison.
There was a lot at stake for a 21-year-old Portuguese when he had to have his sentence in Sermersooq District Court in Nuuk on Tuesday 7 July.
The young man was accused of smuggling and trying to smuggle 500 grams of cocaine and 10 kilos of hash into Greenland on several occasions in 2024 and 2025. According to the indictment, this should result in a sentence of 10 years in prison.
However, it did not work out that way. The court acquitted the Portuguese of all three counts of cocaine and hashish, but convicted him on a single count of money laundering.
Never found specific drugs
Defense attorney Tobias Engby informs Sermitsiaq that the police have never found the mentioned quantities of cocaine and hashish, either on his client or elsewhere. The prosecutor believed that messages found on phones made it likely that the Portuguese had introduced the substances in question to Greenland or attempted to do so.
But the court did not find that there was a basis for convicting the young man of any of the drug-related charges. Therefore, he was only sentenced for the money laundering relationship, which he himself had acknowledged.
This was about the Portuguese on 22 September 2025 participating in an attempt to transfer 621,200 kroner in black money from Greenland to Denmark. The attempt went wrong when the perpetrators were revealed at Nuuk Airport.
Tuesday’s verdict was thus five months in prison and a deportation with a five-year ban on entry to Greenland.
Since the Portuguese had been detained since September 2025, his sentence has long since been served and more. He is thus entitled to compensation if the circuit court’s decision also becomes the final judgment.
Three people in the same money laundering case
For the time being, we have not been able to clarify whether the prosecution wishes to appeal the sentence against the Portuguese to the Greenland High Court. The prosecutor has 14 days after the verdict to consider that issue.
The 10 years in prison was the maximum measure that the prosecutor could go for in this case. Today, it is possible to sentence criminals in Greenland to up to 16 years in prison. But the new rule only came into force at the turn of the year and does not apply to older cases.
A 29-year-old Icelandic citizen was already convicted in November 2025 as an accomplice in the attempt to carry out the said 621,200 kroner. He received a similar sentence of five months in prison and an entry ban for five years.
A third man is indicted for the same, and his case must also be dealt with separately.
