As economic integration between the Nordic and Baltic states proceeds in the wake of the Baltic State’s accession to the EU in 2004, the virtual flooding of the Nordic state’s black markets with cheap amphetamine, often produced in underground labs located in Lithuania, continues unabated. Although Lithuanian producers are far from the only suppliers of amphetamine and other synthetic drugs to the Nordic markets, their shares of the market have nevertheless increased rapidly during the last decade.  

Criminal networks of Lithuanian origin has been involved in revolutionizing smuggling of narcotics to the Nordic states; where they, as a result of efficient mechanisms of distribution and methods of multilateral organization, has enforced their domination of the black markets. This is especially true in Norway where Lithuanian criminal networks for long have been in control of the mushrooming amphetamine market. Though international networks of drug dealers which specialize in the trade of narcotics consists of people of various nationalities, criminals holding a Lithuanian citizenship are, according to Swedish and Norwegian police, figuring most commonly among those arrested for the involvement in the lucrative drug trade.

In general, synthetic drugs produced in Lithuania, or brought into the country from abroad, are smuggled into the Nordic states either through the usage of the ferry line between Klaipeda and Karlshamn in Sweden, or the Oresund Bridge which connects Denmark and Sweden. In fact, the opening of the Oresund Bridge in 2000 has been a blessing in the eyes of many smugglers, as it provided a relatively safe and direct transport route to the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish markets.

Finnish authorities have even estimated that the majority of amphetamine and synthetic drugs which reach the country from neighbouring Estonia have found its way to Finland through the Oresund Bridge. This definitely underlines the importance of the bridge for international networks of smugglers considering the proximity of Estonia to Finland, and the frequent ferry traffic between the two states.

According to Swedish media sources, cheap Lithuanian methamphetamine has been “over-flooding” the country, and “criminal networks of Lithuanian origin” are slowly gaining a grip on the Swedish black market for synthetic drugs. Sweden is, however, merely a transit country for Lithuanian amphetamine, while the destination for the vast share of the drugs is Norway. 

As has already been alluded to, during the last couple of years, criminal networks, dominated by people with Lithuanian citizenship, has been in firm control of the Norwegian black market for synthetic drugs. Though indeed perceived as a source of grave concern, some Norwegian criminologists suggest that there are some benevolent aspects of the problem. The influx of cheap Lithuanian amphetamine on the Norwegian market has, they argue, contributed to the steady decline of heroine consumption. This development has been a highly prioritized goal for the Norwegian government as the death rate associated with the consumption of illicit drugs, as late as in 2003, was higher in Norway than in any other European state. 

Norway is today the most popular destination among the Nordic countries for Lithuanian emigrants. This has made an imprint insofar as Norwegians, I would argue, are the only one’s among the Nordic nations who, to a greater or lesser extent, has constructed distinct stereotypes about Lithuanians. What is more, although Norwegians in general seem to be well aware of and concerned about the involvement of Lithuanian immigrants in the illicit drug market, Lithuanians are nevertheless infrequently labelled as petty “Eastern European thugs”, which by and large has been the case with, for example, Poles and Romanians.

A Norwegian survey conducted in 2009 showed that Lithuanians, above everything else, were valued for their work in the field of construction and renovation. The same survey indicated that Lithuanians were included in the group of immigrants viewed with most approbation and held as most industrious by Norwegian people themselves.

I remember discussing this issue with a Norwegian friend of mine whom, in a well-intended but yet slightly xenophobic fashion, voiced his opinion on the matter: “There is of course some bad seeds among them, but I have to admit that they know their way around a hammer and a screwdriver.”

What is interesting here, then, is not that Lithuanian immigrants often are associated with construction work or similar blue-collar labour. After all, this does not deviate from the general West European line, made symbolic by the infamous stereotype about the Polish plumber, in which Eastern European labour migrants, at the very best, are perceived to fill the voids left by an increasingly educated domestic labour force in the field of heavy industry and regular blue-collar work. Instead, what seems striking is that Lithuanian labour migrants, despite the blatant prevalence of a stereotypical antithesis (that of the drug dealer), somehow has manage to establish a fairly descent reputation for themselves.

This image of Lithuanians, which is showing signs of increased complexity and stereotypical oscillation, does sharply contrast to the nascent understanding and interest about Lithuania and Lithuanians in the neighbouring Nordic countries. This is, naturally enough, not because Norwegians are more inclined to embrace labour immigrants than other Nordic states, nor do their laws and policies on immigration suggest anything radical; there is simply proportionally more Lithuanians residing in Norway than in any other Nordic state.

However, as far as labour immigration and construction work goes, the role played by Lithuanians in Norway has, as is the case in Western Europe in general, to a great extent been filled by Poles in the surrounding Nordic states. And, as when the Norwegian survey indicates that Norwegians appreciates the work being done by Lithuanian immigrants in the field of construction, Swedes are more likely to declare that their sole reason for hiring Polish labour has to do with the issue of money. In fact, a recently published study shows that one-third of the respondents would refrain from going ahead with a desired renovation project if they had to rely purely on Polish labour. Norwegians, on the other hand, are, according to the survey quoted above, most resentful against Romanians who frequently are associated with unorganized and petty crimes.

Analyzing and explaining for this intricate web of condescending attitudes and stereotypes about Eastern European immigrants, whether it is put in a regional or national context, seems to be an impossible project, especially since many of the prejudices, irregardless of what sort of attitudes they express, underlying these ideas are based on idiosyncratic and irrational assumptions. Nevertheless, the example of how the presence and practices of Lithuanian drug dealers and construction workers in Norway actually have contributed to develop stereotypes, spurred by immigration and social interaction, about the immigrating nation demonstrates that prejudices can be variable and indeed malleable.       

Fredrik Rydström is a distinguished academic from Sweden who graduated Vilnius University in Spring 2010. He has lived for almost two years in Lithuania where he ound true love: the kibinas. Fredrik has held several lectures about and specialized in Baltic-Nordic relations.