A total of 60 asylum seekers have disappeared from South-Eastern reception centres this year. They are officially wanted by authorities internationally. Police originally said that "about ten" asylum seekers had disappeared.
"Police are not actively searching for these individuals," says chief inspector Juha Junkkari. "After we've posted a wanted notice we mainly just wait for some information on them to come to light."
Among the asylum seekers to have disappeared are people from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Iraq. Most of them came to Finland via Russia.
Negative decisions for some
Part of the asylum seekers to have gone missing have already received a negative asylum decision. Some of these have also appealed their cases but disappeared after filing their complaint. Some of the asylum seekers have not been given a decision at all.
Police suspect that a majority of the missing people have already left the country, and that many of them had no intention of staying in Finland for long.