The U.S. Customs Service received a request for assistance in 1996 from the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service and Finnish National Bureau of Investigation to locate a Finnish suspect and fugitive named Veli Tapani Virtanen. Virtanen, who had been previously convicted of murdering his entire family in Finland in 1988, was out of prison and reportedly
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In 1996, the U.S. Customs Service conducted a smuggling investigation involving stolen vehicle exportation from South Florida. The investigation identified a smart and successful Haitian outbound and inbound smuggling organization. The smugglers utilized scores of stolen sport utility vehicles that were exported to Haiti and traded for cocaine; the small and poor nation was a
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The 2026 Updated and Expanded Edition of this Story Can Be Accessed Below Old School Florida Smuggling – An amazing history through the lens of one family By Robert C. Hutchinson The evolution of drug smuggling and related criminal activities in South Florida can be viewed through the common thread of one small family and
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