Member of Herlin industrial dynasty held hostage for over two weeks

Kidnapping of Minna Nurminen unprecedented in Finland

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A dramatic kidnapping drama came to an end in the early hours of Saturday, with the release of 26-year-old Minna Nurminen.
      Nurminen is a member of the Herlin family, which owns the elevator manufacturer Kone, and was abducted from her home in Helsinki on May 27th.
      The kidnapper(s) had demanded a large ransom in exchange for Nurminen’s freedom.
      Nurminen was found unharmed in a forest in the southwestern community of Vahto on Saturday morning.
     
Two hours after Nurminen was found, police arrested a middle-aged Turku man in connection with the kidnapping.
      Police did not immediately say if Nurminen knew her kidnapper. However, the commercial television network Nelonen reported in a news broadcast on Saturday that the suspect,
Juha Turunen, was a 44-year-old corporate lawyer and had been a candidate for the social Democratic Party in municipal elections, and had held a job with the University of Turku (see attached story).
      “Nurminen left her home against her will”, says Kari Tolvanen of the Helsinki police.
     
A large ransom had been paid by Hanna Nurminen, the chair of the Kone Foundation, and farmer Jaakko Nurminen for the release of their daughter Minna, when police pursued a suspect in the kidnapping in the centre of Turku on Friday.
      The police chased the man into a parking garage in Turku, when the suspect dropped part of the ransom money.
      The kidnappers had threatened to harm Nurminen if the police got involved in the events.
     
To protect Minna Nurminen, the police decided to deliberately lie to the media on the money in the parking garage.
      “The strange thing is that we know of no original crime from where the money might have come from”, stated Timo Malinen of the Turku police to Helsingin Sanomat on Friday.
      “The Turku police gave the statement at my request”, Tolvanen admitted on Saturday.
      “The hostage was being held by the suspect, and for that reason we were not able to come out with the truth of the matter, and had to hold back information”, Tolvanen said.
     
Nurminen was reported missing three days after the abduction, at a time when there was no knowledge that a crime was involved in her disappearance.
      The arrival of the ransom demand sparked a major operation, involving the police, the Defence Forces, the Border Guard, and Finnish Customs.
      A paper shopping bag full of money was found in the parking garage. Tolvanen said that only part of the money was in the parking garage.
      Nelonen reported that a ransom of EUR 10 million was paid. The banknotes were real, according to the police, and had been provided by Nurminen’s family.
     
Nurminen was in good physical condition when she was found, and police have interviewed her about the ordeal.
      Police say that she had not been mistreated.
      It was not immediately disclosed where the hostage and her abductor or abductors had spent the previous couple of weeks.
     
The Herlin family 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. Kone was the 13th-largest Finnish company by turnover in 2008.
      The kidnap victim is the daughter of Hanna Nurminen, who is in turn the eldest of five children fathered by the late Pekka Herlin (1932-2003).
      Kone came into being in 1924, and grew into a large industrial concern during the era of Pekka Herlin's father Heikki Herlin (1901-1989).

More on this subject:
 Turku lawyer suspected of heiress kidnapping; associates dumbfounded
 Timeline of kidnapping

Helsingin Sanomat