"This is organised crime", says information department head Lt. Inge Lindsaar of the Estonian Border Guard Service. "The Kurds paid between 5,000-10,000 dollars each for their trip. This is not a matter of helping. It is a case of human trade."
The same gang is accused of smuggling 21 Kurds over the border between July 22 and September 11 this year.
Five Kurds, three of them children, are awaiting their asylum ruling in a refugee centre in Estonia. They have reported that they were on their way to Finland. Estonia has not previously granted asylum for Kurds. Eight smuggled Kurds have sought asylum in Finland. The destination of the rest is unclear."They may have stayed in Helsinki, or they may have continued further inland, or to Sweden or Norway", says Arvo M�ntykentt� from the Helsinki Police Department. In Finland two men were arrested last month for bringing Kurds to Helsinki on a sailboat from Tallinn's Pirita Harbour. They were discovered when their boat strayed from its course in thick fog and caught the attention of coastguards, who sent out a rescue party. What began as a friendly gesture to help a sailor in difficulties then led officials in Finland, Estonia, and Russia onto the track of the human smugglers.
The chief architect of the human smuggling operation is believed to have been the chairman of the association of the Estonian Kurds, who imported fruit and vegetables to Tallinn for a living. Two truck drivers brought the Kurds to Tallinn from the banks of the River Narva on the Russian-Estonian border. The Kurds first flew from Damascus in Syria to Moscow, travelling on forged documents. From Moscow they travelled to St. Petersburg by train, and from there to the River Narva by car. The captured Kurds started their journey from the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on the 15th of August. The trip to Tallinn and Helsinki took three weeks.
Human smugglers were last caught transporting Kurds between Estonia and Finland in 2000 and 1999. "The same people are involved again", Inspector Arvo M�ntykentt� says. According to M�ntykentt�, most of the asylum seekers come to Finland on a plane from Moscow. "A considerable number of them are Russian citizens who have tourist visas and passports." Pre-trial investigation continues on this summer's case of Kurds being brought illegally from Estonia to Finland. M�ntykentt� estimates the investigation will be ready for the possible bringing of charges in November.