Criminal gangs recruit boys in Estonia for burglaries in Finland
Increase in crime feared as unemployed start losing benefits
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There are fears of a surge in crime by Estonians this autumn and winter when the unemployment compensation for those who lost their jobs in the early part of this year starts running out.
The number of robberies in Estonia had risen by 11 per cent by the end of the summer compared with last year’s figures.
The number of crimes committed in Finland by Estonian citizens has also grown.
In the small community of Kohila, 30 kilometres south of Tallinn, shady offers of work in Finland are one way that those in need try to make money.
Young men might be offered gigs of a couple of days at a “construction site”, but in practice the work might prove to be carrying stolen property, or driving a car on a burglary gig.
Schoolchildren have even been offered a riideturnee, or “clothing tour”, which means going to department stores in the south of Finland, where name-brand clothing is stolen for a fee.
“News about construction gigs comes over the Internet through acquaintances. They look for people who do not have a criminal background”, says kick-boxing coach Raido Murusalu, who is waiting at the Kohila station for a train to Tallinn.
In the centre of Kohila there is a river, an old mill, small wooden houses with bakery shops, an SEB Bank, and an R-Kiosk. On the banks of the river there is an old manor house, and the manor’s old paper factory, which terminated nearly all of its 500 employees in the spring.
Nearly every young man who passes by knows about the availability of shady gigs in Finland.
“If I wanted to go, I would know how to get there”, says construction worker Matis Sibul, 21, who has not been to Finland.
“Some have no choice”, says Siim Kera, 18, who has a good job as a warehouse worker in Tallinn.
Four people from Kohila were convicted last year of burglaries in business premises in the Helsinki region. Those convicted were acquaintances of Kera and Sibul since kindergarten, and not all of them have criminal records in Estonia.
“The guys did not go until they had no work. We used to go to work together. They always used to be very upstanding boys”, Sibul says.
The unemployment security system in Estonia is based on the assumption that someone who has lost a job should be able to find a new one within a year. The maximum duration of income-linked unemployment benefits is nine months. After that, it is possible to get a minimal compensation of just over EUR 60 a month.
Most of those who lost their jobs early this year have not found new work, according to a recent study.
Tallinn police investigator Krista Aas says that there is a clear connection in Estonia between the number of thefts and the economic situation. Thefts decreased in Estonia constantly until last year, when unemployment began to grow.
“Crimes that Estonian citizens typically commit in Finland are crimes of larceny, and traffic violations. The number is slightly on the increase”, says Juha Laaksonen of the Helsinki Police Department.
The growth in the number of crimes committed by Estonians in Finland is attributed to both the poor economic situation and the expansion of the Schengen zone to include Estonia in 2007, making travel between the two countries easier.
Police in the Helsinki area have increasingly had to deal with Estonian criminal gangs from outside Tallinn in recent years.
Police have made note of a number of groups from Rakvere, 100 kilometres east of Tallinn. Also caught have been a number of people from Võru, in the south of Estonia, which has been hit hard by unemployment.
Police know of one case in which children have recruited their parents to take part in a robbery.
Goods stolen in Finland can occasionally be found in Estonia.
Krista Aas says that “subcontractors” bring stolen goods to certain “wholesalers”, who market it forward on the Internet, in certain pawn shops and in open markets.
“The buyers are often ordinary people who do not care much about the origins of the goods, or then the price is too attractive to resist”, Krista Aas says.
At the Kohila police station, Heiki Valliste, the officer on duty, has not heard about the recruitment of boys in Kohila to handle goods stolen in Finland.
Information about people arrested in Finland often does not reach local officials at home in Estonia.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 5.10.2009 - TODAY |
 Criminal gangs recruit boys in Estonia for burglaries in Finland |
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