Finland Times

 

File Photo – Lehtikuva.

The police have foiled schemes of carrying out dozens of violent activities in the country since the beginning of the year, said the head of the National Bureau of Investigation (KRP), Sanna Palo on Saturday.

 

In an interview with the commercial broadcaster MTV in its Uutisextra programme, Palo said there have been a couple of dozen school shootings planned or threatened, in addition to 10 cases of planned mass murders.

 

Palo told the news agency STT that the planned mass murders included, for example, killing a whole family. The cases had spanned the country.

 

“About twenty cases have been assessed as dangerous and the same amount as considerably dangerous. Fortunately, they have been prevented and we intervened at an early stage, at the first hint of someone fantasising about a massacre. Even one incident [of mass murder] is too much, if it goes through,” the NBI boss told MTV.

 

The KRP started this year with determination to combat those persons with idealised intentions of planning mass murders. 

 

The bureau established in the spring threat assessment activities with the aim to detect and prevent planned violence as well as to assess the level of the threat. 

 

The KRP and local police work closely together to identify potential threats.

 

“The local police know very quickly whether a person has mental health problems or otherwise. We coordinate our activities across Finland,” Palo said to STT.

 

According to Palo, police intelligence is now monitoring dozens of people suspected of planning a massacre, for example, on the Internet. 

 

The suspects, for example, glorify the perpetrators of previous mass shootings, said the police official.