Heightened border security during Championships brings 100 refusals of entry
Finnish Frontier Guard: Estimate of number of illegal immigrants needs
to be revised
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During last week's World Championships in Athletics held in Helsinki, Finnish guard officials caught more than 20 people for attempting entry with false travel documents. Most of those caught immediately filed a petition for asylum in Finland.
From another Schengen country - mainly Sweden - some 100 people attempted entry into Finland without travel documents of any kind. All of them were sent back to where they came from.
"No actual security risks were among those caught", confirms Lieutenant-Colonel Kimmo Elomaa from the Frontier Guard Staff.
To guarantee safety during the championships, heightened security check-ups were carried out by the Frontier Guard from the 24th of July until around midnight on Sunday, the last day of the games.
In all, about 40,000 people, equalling between 5 to 12 percent of the total flow of travellers, were randomly checked on the internal Schengen border.
Normally, only travellers from outside the Schengen area are checked. The Schengen area includes all of the Nordic Countries, as well as all other European Union countries, except for Great Britain, Ireland and the ten new member states.
The random inspections concentrated on the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport and the Helsinki seaport, where ferries from Sweden were primarily targeted.
In Turku and further north along the Gulf of Bothnia coast, as well as on the western land border, only sporadic attempts at illegal entry occurred.
Major Janne Piiroinen from the Helsinki Unit of the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard District confirms that the unit will scrutinise the findings of the heightened security operation to the last detail.
"It may well be that we have to revise our estimates as to how many illegal aliens currently reside in Finland", Piiroinen says.
In Piiroinen's view, the number of those travelling without proper documents was high. In the whole of last year, Finnish border guard officials caught 400 people trying to cross the external Schengen border without appropriate documents. Now, around one hundred people were caught in the space of three weeks on the internal border. Most of them came on ferries from Sweden.
A citizen of a Nordic Country is allowed to visit other Nordic Countries without a passport. However, foreigners, though permanently living in a Nordic Country, still have to produce proper travel documents when crossing over to a neighbouring country.
According to Piiroinen, most of those caught were perfectly legal residents of Sweden. "They just did not have their travel documents in order when trying to come to Finland. Foreigners have to be able to verify their nationality."
During the three weeks of heightened security, some 20 people were caught using false identification documents. Most of them had forged papers. The rest used legal documents - only they were not their own.
Most of those caught for travelling with false documents applied immediately for asylum. According to Piiroinen, it is difficult to tell whether this would have been the case had they not been caught.
In any case, this supports the Frontier Guard's notion that the internal Schengen border is the main artery into Finland for asylum seekers.
Based on the Schengen treaty, Finland is not able to continue inspections on the internal border, even though judging by the experiences during the World Championships the border seems to be leaking.
"The findings of this three-week experience, however, may be utilised by the Ministry of the Interior and the local police forces, who are in charge of monitoring foreigners in Finland", Piiroinen concludes.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 16.8.2005 - TODAY |
 Heightened border security during Championships brings 100 refusals of entry
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