Kidnapping case: Police retrieve all ransom money

Suspect attempted to conceal stashes for as long as possible

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The police believe they have most likely found the last part of the missing ransom money paid by the Nurminen family to the suspected kidnapper Juha Turunen in order to secure the release of the abducted heiress Minna Nurminen.
      On Wednesday, four caches of banknotes were unearthed in three stashes in the ground in various parts of Turku.
      On Wednesday night, the money was still being counted, but the sum is expected to equal to the last part of the missing ransom money, namely around EUR 4 million.
     
Initially, the suspected kidnapper, a lawyer from Turku, extorted EUR 8 million from the Nurminens, half of which has already been returned to the family.
      The ransom money was stashed in ten different places, including the flat in which the suspect was arrested on Saturday of last week.
      Turunen had more than 14 hours to hide the bundles of cash from the time of the pick-up of the ransom money until he was apprehended.
      The news of the discovery of the ransom money was first reported by the Finnish late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.
     
The police found the caches as a result of their own investigation and interrogations.
      According to the police, suspect Juha Turunen did not cooperate with police to uncover the money, trying to hide the caches to the very last.
      Detective Chief Inspector Juha Rautaheimo, the head of the investigation, reports that no transmitters had been hidden in the bundles of cash.
     
The police believe that most likely Turunen had no accomplices, and that he had been planning his crime meticulously since the beginning of the current year.
      No international conncections have been discovered, either.
      The police notes further that the investigation is to continue as normal and no major new revelations are to be expected in the near future.
     
Minna Nurminen was kidnapped from her home in Helsinki at the end of May, and was freed in the early hours of Saturday after the ransom money had been paid by her family.
      Nurminen is a member of the Herlin family, which is among the most well-known of Finnish industrial dynasties. Members of the family remain among the principal owners of the elevator company Kone and the cargo handling equipment manufacturers Cargotec.
      Rautaheimo says that the suspect has been in contact with his family during the time he has been in police custody.
     
The police also report that a number of parties aided in the investigation, including the Finnish Defence Forces, the Finnish Border Guard, and Customs.
      Even the Finnish Road Administration, the Bank of Finland, and Finnish network operators played a significant role in the operation.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kidnapping suspect confessed already in first police interrogation (17.6.2009)
  Suspected kidnapper believed to have acted alone (16.6.2009)
  Member of Herlin industrial dynasty held hostage for over two weeks (15.6.2009)
  Timeline of kidnapping (15.6.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat