Finland Times

     In the summer of 2014, two groups of Syrians tried to illegally cross the Finnish border in Imatra, a border town in eastern Finland.

     The preliminary investigation conducted by the Crime Prevention Unit of the Southeast Finland Border Guard showed that the two attempts were organized by the same Finnish criminal group.

     In one of the cases, four Syrians living in Moscow looked for persons who could illegally arrange their migration to Finland.

     In May 2014, under the guidance of a Finnish resident, the four Syrians traveled by train from Moscow to St. Petersburg and then took a taxi to Vyborg. A Russian man belonging to the criminal group was suspected of bringing the Syrians from Vyborg to Svetogorsk, at which point he advised them to travel on foot to Finland.

     On May 23, 2014, the Syrians were caught by the Finnish border guards about two kilometers from the border on the Finnish side.

     The other case of illegal immigration, which happened in July 2014, was carried out in a similar way. This time, five Syrians were caught by the Russian border guards.

     It was revealed that each of the Syrians paid 2,000 euros (about 2,163 U.S. dollars) to the criminal group for illegal immigration.

     The Finnish Border Guard said the cases had been transferred to prosecutors for charges together with seven other cases, in which a total of 19 Syrians had tried to illegally enter Finland from Russia.

     Earlier in February, the Border Guard said they had intercepted two groups of Iraqi nationals near the border in the summer of 2014, and one of the groups had been accompanied by two Finnish citizens with Iraqi background.