Police suspect 20 pupils at Pori school of using or trafficking drugs

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Police in Pori have detained six young people aged 14 to 16 after a raid on a local school. All four boys and one girl are suspected of using illegal drugs, and some are suspected of acquiring and trafficking.
      The total number of pupils implicated in the matter is over 20.
     
Police and child welfare officials conducted a raid on the school on Friday after being tipped off about drug use in the school.
      Drug-sniffing dogs were used in the raid.
      Substances used in the schoolyard and nearby included home-grown cannabis and pharmaceutical drugs.
     
Pori school superintendent Jari Leinonen said that suspicions of drug use in a special unit of pupils with behavioural problems had been discussed in recent months at parents’ evenings and other occasions.
      “However, there was no evidence that would have warranted working with police or social welfare officials.”
      “The matter itself is unfortunate, of course. On the other hand, this operation is a wake-up call and a warning, showing that the system works”, Leinonen says. He adds that he does not know of anything similar in other schools in Pori.
     
Most of the 20 suspects are 17 and 18 years old. Most of them are from Pori.
      “About a quarter of them are names that are familiar to police, but most of them have never had anything to do with us”, says Juha Joutsenlahti, the head of the investigation.
      After police interrogations, child welfare officials made a quick decision on putting three of the young people, who also had other problems into care. Three others are still attending the school as normal.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Report: Illegal drug use in Finland among lowest in Europe (7.11,2008)

Helsingin Sanomat