Documents obtained by Yle have revealed messages exchanged by two Helsinki police officers previously suspected of involvement in a far-right plot to commit acts of violence.
The messages show that the police officers involved in the far-right group used information received in the course of their professional duties for their own purposes.
In February prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to charge members of the group with preparing to commit acts of violence.
The police officers are still suspected of breaching confidentiality rules. Some members of the far-right group under investigation are suspected of firearms offences.
The senior of the two officers in question challenged the prosecutor's decision to reveal the message exchange. Turku Administrative Court ruled on the matter this week and Yle received a redacted public version of the documents, which are translated below.
"We're gonna ice a lot of people"
Officer A 5.11.2017: I've got a great spot at RTY [the Criminal investigation Unit]. I hear all kinds of stuff, I can spy so fucking much and I use what I hear when I can.
Officer B 5.11.2017: Nice. I do the same thing at EET [the Crime Prevention Unit].
Officer B 5.11.2017: We're gonna ice a lot of people = )
Officer A 8.1.2019: There's gonna be a lot of bodies.
Officer B 29.2.2020: [Redacted] Camo gear, helmets, assault pack, food, batteries, Trangia, first aid kit, medicines, [Redacted], radios, etc etc.
Officer B 29.2.2020: [Redacted] smoke grenades and stuff would be nice =)
Officer B 29.2.2020: Might mean [Redacted] will be surprised when the bullets start flying.
In March Yle reported that a Helsinki police sergeant had been in contact with Tero Ala-Tuuhonen, leader of the far-right group Nationalist Alliance.
The sergeant told Ala-Tuuhonen, "if you are going to go looking for immigrants, ask about the different areas with as many units as possible...Concentrate your forces, so don’t go with small groups to challenge the immigrants, but keep the outfit together. Also remember that they invariably come with knives etc."
Insufficient grounds for more serious charges
The Helsinki Police Department has arrested all police officers linked to the case and imposed a ban on them entering police premises.
The documents obtained by Yle do not reveal the identity of Officer B. Yle is aware of the identities of all police officers involved, but the specific identity of Officer B cannot be ascertained on the basis of the documents.
Heikki Stenius of the National Prosecution Authority, who is the prosecutor in the case, commented briefly.
"One suspect is suspected of a breach of professional secrecy," he said.
According to Stenius, the breach of secrecy is not directly related to the claims of spying made in the messages between the two police officers.
Officer A was suspected of preparing to commit aggravated offences against the life or health of one or more individuals on the basis of the messages.
However, Stenius concluded that the evidence did not meet the the bar for criminal prosecution.
The suspect claimed that the messages were talk that got out of hand, and were not preparations for committing an offence.
A preliminary investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation was able to rule out the possibility that the police officers had planned to commit violent acts, the prosecutor said.