The Coast Guard of the Gulf of Finland is investigating cases of organised illegal immigration related to the situation on the eastern border, Schengen Visa News reports.
Most of the criminal organisations under investigation are believed to be operating from the Middle East and Europe.
The Finnish Border Guard Service (Raja) assumes that these organisations use Finland as a transit country for illegal immigration to other parts of Europe. It said in a statement:
“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 issued on Thursday, 18 January, Raja said the illegal migrants came from the Middle East to Russia, then to the Russian border and checkpoints, and then to Finland. It noted:
“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.”
Finland has faced several cases involving illegal immigration in recent months. On Monday, the Southeast Finland Border Guard arrested 11 Iranians for illegally crossing the border. The arrested Iranians were allegedly involved in cross-border offences.
In November, 34 people arrived at Finland’s Vartius border crossing without the necessary documents. The same month, 58 asylum seekers from Yemen, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Pakistan arrived at the Salla international border crossing.
