Finland Times

 

File Picture of former chief of Helsinki police drug unit Jari Aarnio. Photo – Lehtikuva.

Three policemen have been arrested in connection with the investigations surrounding Jari Aarnio, the former chief of Helsinki police drug unit.

 

The three officers who served under Aarnio were apprehended on Wednesday evening, according to Eastern Uusimaa Prosecutor's Office.

 

It was not clear on what charges they were arrested for, but according to the Prosecutor's Office, the crimes were not related to the investigations looking into the leak of the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was mistakenly entered into the National Bureau of Investigation suspect register list.

 

Aarnio – who is currently detained – faces numerous charges including narcotic related crimes and accepting of bribes.

 

Previously, investigations led to the arrests of police officers who at one point served under Aarnio. The previously arrested policemen had been accused of breach of duty.

 

Meanwhile, earlier reports indicated that investigation into the leaked NBI list had shifted its focus to the ring of suspects involved in Aarnio's case.

 

The NBI list where the name of Russian President Putin was enlisted mistakenly. Photo – Lehtikuva.

MTV reported in spring that the name of Russian president Vladimir Putin was in the NBI list of suspects, albeit mistakenly.

 

A subsequent investigation was launched to establish why the name appeared on the list and who leaked it to the public.

 

The basis of this investigation was the fact that the stories were closely linked and the suspects appeared to be the same.

 

The investigations had revealed a wide circle of suspects, but Juha-Mikko Hämäläinen, the prosecutor in the case, had submitted a proposal that limited the number suspects to only four officers. The investigation is nearing completion.

 

The four the Four suspects are mid-level supervisors from the NBI and the National Board of Police. They are suspected of negligence of registry access.

 

In April 2013, Vladimir Putin was named a suspect in a message sent from abroad to the NBI and was subsequently recorded as such by mistake.

 

Following the incident, the authorities started tracing the origin of the message, how it came to the Finnish police and how the Russian president’s name ended up on the NBI suspect list.

 

Admitting that inserting Putin’s name in the list was a mistake, the NBI expressed regret and said the name had already been removed from the list.

 

Immediately after hearing the news of the blunder, Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen took measures for probing the matter.

 

National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero also termed the affair a gross mistake.