Five people have been arrested in Finland by the Finnish border guards on May 7, 2023, due to involvement in an organised crime for falsifying documents for travel, the Finnish Border Guard (RAIA) has revealed.
The arrest followed a case of the Finnish border officers who came across a woman who attempted to enter Finland with suspicious travel documents after reaching the Helsinki-Vantaa airport from Paris.
Upon further investigation, the border officers found out that the documents did not belong to the woman presenting them, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to a statement by RAIA, the police stopped the woman and arrested the man accompanying her under the accusation that he had committed the crime of organising illegal immigration to the country. The same has been arrested and jailed.
“During the preliminary investigation, it was found that the imported woman first travelled through Turkey, flying to Spain, from where the journey had continued to France and finally to Finland, and in addition, contrary to what she said, the woman was actually a citizen of Kenya,” the statement reads.
It further explains that she and the man arrested under suspicion of organised crime met back in Spain.
Upon the necessary investigations, it was found that at least three other people were part of the crime by providing people in irregular situations in Europe with money transactions, travel arrangements, plane tickets and the organisation of the necessary documents for travelling.
This is asserted to have been the case for more than six months, offering such illegal services to 15 people for monetary compensation of $3,500 to $6,000.
The proof collected revealed that these individuals helped people illegally enter Europe and travel within its territory whole using false documents or documentation which did not belong to them.
As a result, there was probable reason to believe that the crime was only a part of bigger activities organised by criminal groups. As the case continued to be analysed, it became available for submission of charges once the preliminary investigation finished, being considered as an organisation of illegal immigration.
Cases of irregular foreigners staying in Europe and detected at the Finnish border have been quite frequent in recent years in Finland. Back in May, a couple from Russia at the Vaalimaa border was arrested by Finnish officials after they had been staying in Finland for more than 100 days without their necessary legal documents.
After the guards exposed this couple, the transfer of individuals and the implementation of an entry ban against them have been requested by the Immigration Office.
According to the European Migration Network, a significant move by Finland to tackle illegal migration and border crossing was made with the improvement of the Action Plan for the prevention of illegal entry and stay for the period 2021–2024. Its main focus is to prevent the establishment of a parallel society distinct from Finnish society.