TV Report:

HELSINKI DRUG POLICE WARNED CRIMINALS OF IMPENDING WIRETAP

Police Deny Any Wrongdoing

According to a news report on the commercial television network
Nelonen, suspicions of criminal action by Helsinki's drug police
involve at least one case of warning criminals of an impending
investigation. About ten members of the Helsinki drug squad currently
face charges of using illegal means of acquiring information about
the illegal drug market.

According to the story aired on Sunday, the police officers in
question are suspected of having warned an Estonian criminal of a
wiretap in 2006.

Nelonen reported that a phone call informing the criminal of the
planned surveillance was recorded on tape, because the Estonian
police were already listening in on the suspect's telephone.

Nelonen says that the police have denied giving the criminal any such warning.

The police are also suspected of having supplied false information to
Helsinki District Court when applying for a wiretap warrant for an
Estonian man's telephone: the warrant was allegedly requested for the
telephone of an unknown person, although the user of the telephone
was well known to the police.

In another case, the police are believed to have soft-pedalled an
investigation into the activities of a Finnish criminal in 2001 and
2003, because the person in question was a useful police informer.

The police deny the accusation, noting that the man's telephone had
been tapped for a period of 11 months.

In a third case, the police are accused of apprehending a drug
smuggler prematurely in 2001. If they had waited, the police could
have caught the recipient of the delivery. The police say that they
had no knowledge of the recipient of the shipment.