Crime prevention

Crime prevention activities focus on the external border of the Schengen area. The Finnish Border Guard seeks to prevent, expose and investigate severe cross-border crimes in collaboration with other law enforcement authorities in Finland, namely the Police and Customs.

Primarily, the Finnish Border Guard conducts investigations into the facilitation or aggravated facilitation of illegal migration, forgeries and state border offences. In addition, the Finnish Border Guard investigates cases of drunk driving on land or water as well as fishing and hunting offences exposed through its surveillance activities. 

Instrumentalised illegal migration

In 2023, the number of cases of illegal entry along the land border from Russia to Finland remained at the same level as in previous years. Altogether 14 cases with 20 persons involved were identified in 2023. All those crossing the border illegally were male and all of them applied for asylum in Finland. Nearly all of the cases were identified within the area of the Southeast Finland Border Guard District, with the exception of one within the North Karelia Border Guard District and one within the Kainuu Border Guard District.

In autumn 2023, Finland became a target for instrumentalised illegal migration. Almost 1,300 asylum seekers crossed the eastern border to Finland at various border crossing points. Criminal investigations have verified that organised crime plays a key role in this phenomenon, by arranging migration through Russia to Finland and other Schengen area states. In relation to this phenomenon, more than 20 investigations were initiated in 2023 into suspected facilitation or aggravated facilitation of illegal migration. 

Criminal activities within internal border traffic

As regards the facilitation of illegal migration via internal border traffic, one of the most important pre-trial investigations conducted by the Finnish Border Guard in 2023 concerned the facilitation of illegal migration of Somalis through the internal border air traffic. Based on the initiated pre-trial investigations, it is suspected that citizens of Somalia have been facilitated through the eastern Mediterranean route to enter Greece or Bulgaria and from there further to Finland on internal border flights with forged ID cards of various Schengen states. The suspicion is that groups of organised crime that operate in Sweden are behind the facilitated migration.

Finland has also been exploited as a transit country for migration from Belo-Russia to Central Europe. Based on observations, two new pre-trial investigations into aggravated facilitation of illegal migration were initiated in 2023. These pre-trial investigations indicate that more than 100 persons have been facilitated to enter the Schengen area, mostly to Germany, via the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden. These persons represent several different nationalities. The pre-trial investigations have likely helped authorities to significantly hinder smuggling operations via this route. 

Criminal investigations