The Coast Guard of the Gulf of Finland is investigating several cases of organised illegal immigration related to the situation on the eastern border.
The majority of criminal organisations being investigated allegedly operate from the Middle East, Russia, Europe and Finland.
The Finnish Border Guard (Raja) suspects these organisations are using Finland as a transit country for illegal immigration to other parts of Europe.
These criminal organisations are suspected to have organised extensive human smuggling for significant financial compensation, where individuals are arranged from the Middle East to Russia and Finland and from Finland to other parts of Europe.
In a press release on Thursday, January 18, Raja stated that individuals have been organised to travel from the Middle East to Russia, then to the Russian border and crossing points, and then to Finland.
In Finland, individuals have applied for asylum but subsequently started leaving the country for other parts of Europe. The departure has mainly occurred through domestic air traffic at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, where the activity has also been exposed.
The Gulf of Finland Coast Guard suspects that several hundred individuals who entered from Russia are still in the country and are trying to move to other parts of Europe. The same has formed a dedicated internal investigation team under the Crime Prevention Unit to address this issue.
Regarding this issue, they are collaborating with other divisions within the Border Guard, the Central Criminal Police, and international collaborators, including Europol.
The goal of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard’s crime prevention is to prevent and investigate this type of criminal activity and the underlying international crime.
In recent months, Finland has been facing several cases related to illegal immigration. On Monday, the Southeastern Finland Border Guard arrested 11 Iranian people for crossing the border irregularly. According to Raja, the arrested Iranian allegedly has been involved in cross-border crime.
In November last month, 34 people lacking the necessary documents arrived at Finland’s Vartius border crossing point.
Furthermore, within the same month, 58 asylum seekers from Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Syria arrived at the Salla international border crossing.
Finland has blamed Russia for the recent influx of migrants, alleging that Russian authorities are facilitating transportation to Finnish territory.
At present, all border crossing points between Finland and Russia are closed. Last week, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo confirmed that the Finnish border with Russia will remain closed. He further stated that this decision cannot be lifted as long as Russia continues to push migrants to Finland’s borders.
