Helsinki police find stolen goods in van used by Romanian beggars

Three Romanian flower sellers remanded in custody

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Police in Helsinki recently conducted a search in a van that at least some of the Romanians who have been begging on the city's streets have used as a place to sleep.
      The search yielded a number of stolen mobile telephones, cameras, music players, and at least one GPS car navigator. Petri Juvonen of the Helsinki police say that some of the goods were wrapped in paper and taped beneath the ceiling panels of the vehicles.
      Police arrested four Romanian citizens, three of whom were later remanded in custody by Helsinki District Court on suspicion of theft.
      Those arrested included one woman about 60 years of age and two men of about 30, one of whom is the son of the older woman. All three had sold flowers on the centre of Helsinki. Juvonen says that all three could face two months of pretrial detention.
     
Previously, the police had thought that Romanian beggars and flower pedlars had not been involved in crime. "We had thought that they operate in their own sectors. However, now it seems that they all do everything - that is, that theft is linked with begging and the selling of flowers", Juvonen says.
      He would not estimate how many Romanian beggars there might be in the Helsinki region now. Pictures taken by the recovered cameras suggest that there could be many more people involved than those that would fit into the two vans inspected by the police.
      Juvonen noted that Romanian beggars and flower sellers have been appearing in Helsinki regularly in the summer; previously they have not stayed in this country into the autumn months.
      Police say that previously, only women linked with Romanian pickpocket gangs were involved in theft. "Now both men and women are involved", Juvonen says.
      In addition, the group has been travelling through Southern Finland, and has been in this country for a long time. The first arrived in May.
      Juvonen says that increased vigilance is the only way that the Helsinki Police can stop begging linked with criminal activity.
      "The risk of arrest and punishment should be so big that they would not find it worthwhile to come to Finland or stay here."
     
However, the head of the investigation unit of the Aliens' Police, Jaakko Heinilä, suspects that begging and criminal activities linked with it have come to Finland to stay.
      He says that expulsion from the country will be considered for the Romanians that are now being held.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Beggars on their knees cause consternation on Helsinki streets (21.10.2007)
  Authorities powerless to act against beggars with children in tow (6.8.2007)

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