Eight Armenians sent back home

Illegal immigrants believed to use pose as members of sports clubs to get visas more easily

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The Finnish Guard sent eight Armenian citizens back to their country on Friday. They had arrived in Finland along with a sports team, and the Guard says that they had entered Finland on false premises.
      The group had been granted visas to take part in the young people’s Delfin Basket basketball tournament in Tampere.
      However, eight of the members were caught on a passenger ship from Turku to Sweden. Officials suspect that the group were trying to get to Sweden, and from there, to other parts of Europe.
      Seven members of the group were not actually members of the team, and never showed up in Tampere. They included a mother with two daughters more than ten years of age, an 11-year-old girl with her grandmother, and two unaccompanied girls aged 14 and 16.
      One of those who was caught and returned was the leader of the team, who also had the money for the basketball team. The money was returned to the players who stayed with the tournament.
     
Esa Korpi of the Southeast Border Guard notes that it is difficult for citizens of former Soviet countries to get visas to the Schengen countries, which is why local travel agencies often work together with sports clubs.
      "The visas are arranged through the sports club. Two of the girls who were sent back said that they had bought their trips through a local Armenian travel agency."
      The real purpose of the trip remained something of a mystery for the Border Guard. However, all participants insisted that they planned to return home.
     
Korpi says that the Armenian team, which has taken part in several basketball tournaments, has been under scrutiny for a some time now. In previous years, some of those who accompanied the team on foreign travel have later been found in other parts of Europe.
      In 2003, during the FIFA Under-17 World Championships in Finland, 13 players of Sierra Leone’s national football team and their supervisors applied for asylum while they were in Finland.
      In the same tournament, 150 visa applications came from Nigerian football fans. Finnish officials rejected 130 of them on suspicion of potential misuse.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  The missing heroes of Sierra Leone (21.9.2003)

Helsingin Sanomat