It's past 11 in the evening. Two people walk towards each other in a supermarket parking lot. They meet, shake hands and quickly leave in opposite directions.

It is a familiar sight in both the centre and the suburbs of Tampere. Even the time of day doesn't have that much of an effect on whether a bag changes hands.

"Walking just from the police station to the Koskikeskus shopping centre, you can see all kinds of things going on along the way," says Detective Chief Inspector Ari Luoto of the Central Finland Police Department.

There are plenty of dealers, since drug users often sell in order to finance their own use. The trade has heated up to the point that customers can order as little as half a pill to be delivered to their door.

Roving dealers

Even in the drug trade, the country is increasingly a single market. According to Luoto, for example, professional dealers monitor online demand and move accordingly.

"If they are in Oulu and the word is circulating that there is a need in Tampere, they will come to Tampere by train or car and sell here," Luoto explains .

If sales wane, dealers move on to yet another city.

When there is demand, there is supply. A lot of drug offers can be found online, with the quantities available varying from a single dose to a kilo package.

And, the packages can contain anything whatsoever. According to Luoto, there are a lot of scams in the drug trade. Either the substance delivered is of inferior quality or it is not a drug at all.

At the same time, getting involved in a drug deal is risky. Luoto notes that many investigations of violent crime involve either the buyer or the seller getting robbed.

Size makes no difference

Police intervene in all drug offences, regardless of the size of the deal or how much is being dealt.

If there were more police officers in the field, the drug trade would no longer be so visible. The goal though is to catch up with the bigger players so that the impact of arrests is also greater.

The police are interested in all tips and details about drug deals.

"Even if the seller is not a very big operator, there is always someone higher up who sells more. And, above him, there is an even bigger guy. That's how investigations progress," Luoto points out.

Most tips to the police are about cannabis, as it is so easily identifiable from the smell. Most of the items on the market right now are designer drugs and narcotics, but also a white powder that's been around for decades

"At the moment, the demand for cocaine seems to be strong," says Luoto.