Swedish court gives NKorean diplomatic couple 8 months for smuggling cigarettes

NKorean diplomats jailed for cigarette smuggling

STOCKHOLM — A Swedish court has sentenced two North Korean diplomats to eight months in prison for trying to smuggle cigarettes into the Nordic country.

The Stockholm District Court ruled Wednesday that the diplomats — a man and his wife — cannot claim diplomatic immunity because they are not stationed in Sweden. They are based in the Russian port city of St. Petersburg.

The couple were arrested last month when they arrived in Stockholm on a passenger ferry from Finland. Officers found 230,000 cigarettes hidden under blankets and baggage in their car.

Police have withheld the diplomats’ names.