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Human smuggling group found to have taken nearly 90 Iraqis to Finland

Xinhua, November 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Finnish police uncovered a gang suspected of illegally trafficking nearly 90 Iraqis to Finland via Turkey and Greece, Finnish news agency STT reported on Wednesday.

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said seven suspects were allegedly involved in the case and four of them were already in custody.

Ari Soronen, detective inspector from NBI's Oulu unit, told STT that all of the suspects were Iraqis.

At lease 87 Iraqis were brought from Iraq passing through central Europe to Sweden and then to Finland via Tornio, a tiny town on the Finnish-Swedish border, in 2015.

Police said each smuggled person was forced to pay 6,000 to 8,000 U.S. dollars for a single journey from Iraq to Finland.

The ill-gotten gains collected by the gang accumulated to around more than half a million dollars. NBI described the activities as professional and organized.

The Oulu unit of NBI completed its investigation and the suspects were alleged of aggravated organization of illegal immigrant. The case will be processed in the Oulu District Court in December, according to Soronan. Endit