AMSTERDAM: The former head of the drug enforcement division of Helsinki Police Department found guilty of six counts including 800 kg of hashish from Netherlands into Finlad.
Aarnio also faces a slew of charges for offences in office. He was charged with three counts of aggravated abuse of public office for requesting court authorisation for the use of coercive measures affecting telecommunications. The authorisation was sought in order to develop a so-called anonymiser and, thereby, to hinder the ongoing investigation, according to the indictment.
Overall, Aarnio is believed to have been involved in the smuggling of nearly 1,000 kilos of hashish and to have obtained some 1.5 million euros in criminal profits.
While five of the six counts of indictment arise from the barrel case, Jorma Kalske, the Deputy Prosecutor General, refrained on Thursday from commenting on the sixth count of indictment in detail. “It dates back to 2012—2013 and concerns roughly one hundred kilos,” he said.
In addition, a high-ranking member of United Brotherhood with ties to Aarnio was on Thursday charged with two counts of aggravated drug offence for his alleged role in the smuggling of two barrels of hashish. The decision not to charge him over the smuggling of the three remaining barrels proves that he did not take part in planning the smuggling operation, according to his defence counsel, Markku Fredman.
The devices were discovered in the locker room of the drug enforcement division last February, a few months after the arrest of Aarnio, by one of his colleagues. “The lockers in question are for visitors, and I noticed that two of them were locked although they shouldn’t be,” the officer told
Aarnio was on Thursday also charged with abuse of public office, breach and negligence of official secrecy as well as two counts of incitement to breach and negligence of official secrecy. He is according to the indictment suspected of leaking classified information either directly or through a subordinate to news outlets, such as MTV and Suomen Kuvalehti.
Aarnio also stands accused of aggravated acceptance of bribes, aggravated fraud and aggravated abuse of public office in a case linked to Trevoc, a manufacturer of surveillance equipment. Court proceedings in the case began at the District Court of Helsinki on Tuesday and are scheduled to continue on 13 January.
