Estonians charged with drug smuggling facing maximum punishment in Finland

Photo: USS Security

 Two Estonians whose trial on drug smuggling charges began in Helsinki on Wednesday are facing the maximum punishment, Finnish news agency STT reports.

The prosecutors are demanding the maximum punishment, 13 years' imprisonment, for the two Estonians who went on trial in a Helsinki court together with 15 other suspects in the case on Wednesday. Prosecution is demanding jail terms ranging from six to 12 years for the other defendants.

Estonian and Finnish police busted earlier this year a large criminal group consisting mainly of Estonians that is suspected of smuggling narcotics from Central Europe to Finland, acting in conjunction with several biker clubs in Finland.

The club Cannonball MC, which has been linked to organized crime by the media in Finland and is named in the investigation as the party that received the drugs, is under investigation also over alleged tax evasion in connection with railway construction work.

The joint Finnish-Estonian task force investigated eight cases of smuggling of illegal drugs during the period from December 2011 to March 2013. According to the suspicion, tens of kilograms of amphetamine, hundreds of thousands of tablets of ecstasy and a significant amount of hashish were brought into Finland.

In August 2012 the group brought 40 kilograms of amphetamine into Finland of which the police have seized 17 kilograms. The latest attempt to bring drugs into Finland took place in March 2013 and the police seized approximately 82,000 tablets of ecstasy in that case, the record amount of ecstasy tablets ever seized in Finland.

According to the investigation materials the parties that accepted the drugs were persons belonging to the biker clubs Cannonball MC and Bandidos MC, in whose homes and on premises used by whom tens of searches were conducted in both Finland and Estonia. During the search on the premises of Cannonball MC in Finland about 40 illegal firearms and a substantial amount of ammunition, including a hand grenade, were found. Besides two lathes were found that could have been used for the manufacture of components of firearms.

In addition to the above the police have probed alleged complicity of the Helsinki club of Cannonball MC in organized crime. In connection with that more than 20 members of the club have been declared suspects. Besides the police are investigating illegal sale of alcohol that allegedly took place on the club's premises.

The total number of suspects in the said offenses is 36.

Because of the scale of the charges the hearings in the Helsinki district court have been divided in two, with drug offenses to be dealt with in May 2013 and other offenses and matters related to criminal proceeds to be dealt with later.

Cannonball MC is suspected also of tax offenses committed in connection with the construction of the circular railway of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The club is suspected of tax fraud on a large scale, accounting related offenses, pension insurance fraud and fraud related to the registration of three companies. The companies under investigation rented workforce to other businesses in the Helsinki area. According to the suspicion the damage caused is measured in the hundreds of thousands of euros.

The investigation was started in the late fall of 2012 and the main suspects were detained shortly after the turn of the year.

In addition a criminal investigation was opened at the beginning of 2013 in connection with the use of unregistered labor to clear rooftops in the Helsinki area of snow and ice.