Helsinki police say they have identified potentially dozens more underage victims of a 47-year-old serial paedophile.
The suspect in the case already has a number of convictions for sexual offences against minors.
The man was arrested in late July on suspicion of committing eight sexual-related crimes against minors. After a further police investigation, the number of suspected victims in the case rose to more than 40.
The suspected offences include aggravated sexual exploitation of a child, the purchasing of sexual services from a minor, and the possession and dissemination of indecent images of children.
Speaking to the STT news agency, Inspector Jutta Antikainen said that the police are aware of a total of 43 victims, all of whom are underage boys. She added that the suspected crimes took place in Helsinki between 2018 and 2020.
Groomed victims online
Police said they believe the man met some of his victims in person, while he communicated with others by sending sexually explicit messages and images.
He is suspected of grooming his victims online.
"Children do not themselves usually report that they have been the victim of a crime to the police. Potential new victims will be identified through the search of devices, and the police will then investigate whether there are any victims under the age of 18 when certain crimes are committed," Antikainen explained.
Antikainen also emphasised that the preliminary investigation is still in progress and many of the victims have not yet been interviewed. It is also still possible that more criminal suspicions will emerge.
"The pre-trial investigation is ongoing and the case under investigation is very broad, so the police are unlikely to have identified all of those involved at this stage," she added.
Previous convictions and prison sentences
In 2013, Helsinki District Court sentenced the man to ten years and four months in prison for a series of sexual offences against teenage boys. There were 40 victims in the case, aged between 13 and 17, from all over Finland.
According to the verdict, the man was found guilty of rape, aggravated sexual exploitation of a child and purchasing sexual services from a minor.
Earlier, in 2006, the man was sentenced by the district court to three and a half years in prison for similar crimes. This verdict was ratified by the Court of Appeal the following year. There were about a dozen victims in this case.