CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS at Eastern Uusimaa Police Department have issued detention requests in a large-scale case in which six people working for a security company are suspected of assaults and aggravated assaults.
A district court is to weigh up detaining three of the suspects on Wednesday and the other three on Thursday, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The newspaper reported that the three suspects whose detention hearings are scheduled for today – all men in their early 20s – are suspected of three counts of assault and two counts of aggravated assault.
Eastern Uusimaa Police Department on Monday revealed that the six security professionals are believed to have committed the offences while on duty in several locations in Helsinki, Vantaa and Espoo. While the acts of violence did not follow any particular pattern, they all have the common characteristic of a security guard flagrantly abusing their power and humiliating and subjugating the victim.
“In the suspected cases, security guards transported people they encountered in their job to a more secluded location near a train station before assaulting the victims and recording the act,” described Mikko Minkkinen, a detective chief inspector at Eastern Uusimaa Police Department.
He urged people who have been subjected to such acts to contact the police. “It is extremely important for the investigation that we reach the other victims,” he stressed.
Police on Monday listed altogether eight incidents in which security guards, for example, handcuffed, pepper sprayed and hit their victims with expandable batons. Three of the incidents took place at an unidentified location, three at the Tikkurila station in Vantaa, one in Aviapolis in Vantaa and one at the Malminkartano station in Helsinki.
They took place between 7 February 2022 and 5 December 2022.
The case began to unravel after a bystander reported an assault to police, leading to altogether six arrests last weekend. It is possible that the number of suspects increases as the investigation progresses.
The six suspects in police custody are all employed at Avarn Security, CEO Niclas Sacklén has confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat and STT.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
