Stunned atmosphere at Kouvola China Center after immigration raid

Merchants seized computers and mobile phones back

print this

There was a stunned atmosphere at Kouvola’s China Center market on Thursday after Wednesday’s extensive operation by police and border guard officials looking for illegal immigrants.
      Most of the Chinese merchants kept their stalls open, but only a few customers were to be seen.
      Chen Xiaohong and Jao Jianbo spoke with their colleagues in the halls of the shopping centre.
      “We were not allowed to eat or drink for many hours”, the merchants said, commenting on the raid. The purpose of the major operation was to investigate cases of illegal immigration and residence permit fraud.
      “We had to sit quietly.”
     
Computers and mobile phones were seized for evidence, and their owners do not know when they will get them back.
      “My relatives are worried, because I usually call them every day”, Jao Jianbo says.
      Irmeli Mynttinen and Marjaleena Liikka came from Kuusankoski to buy shoes. They did not find any that were to their liking, but they were enchanted by a battery-operated cat.
      Both were pleased at the links between their region and China. Nearly 200 Chinese live and work in Kouvola.
      Both women praised the service that they got at China Center as polite and friendly.
      “They say that you get good service and treatment in Valkeala as well”, Liikka added.
     
At the Leishi health and fitness centre in Valkeala, which was also raided on Wednesday, people seemed even more shocked than at the China Center. The establishment operates in a building that used to be the local hospital.
      Finnish employees did not want to give their names, because the director had been taken to Helsinki.
      Massage and acupuncture treatments continued as normal, but some reservations had been cancelled.
      Kouvola’s Deputy Mayor responsible for business affairs, Aimo Ahti, learned that he was also among the suspects in the investigations. An invitation signed by him had allegedly been used fraudulently to bring a foreign citizen to work in Vantaa in August 2008.
      Ahti said that he had not been in Vantaa on the day in question, and did not understand what he was suspected of.
      “As far as I know, I have not committed any crime.”
      The City of Kouvola issued a statement, saying that officials had not been in contact with city authorities on the matter.
     
Border Guard officers put seven people under arrest on Thursday on suspicion of organising illegal entry into Finland. Those arrested were citizens of Finland and China.
      Sami Paila, the head of the investigation, says that those arrested include men and women of different ages.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Border Guard and police raid Kouvola’s China Center in immigration sweep (12.11.2009)
  Kouvola´s China Center continues to suffer from growing pains (3.4.2009)
  China Center in Kouvola opens today (20.9.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat