Eastern Uusimaa District Court has remanded into custody rapper and suspected gang leader Milan Jaff on a charge of attempted murder.
The charge follows a probe conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) alongside the police departments of Eastern Uusimaa and Helsinki into a violent confrontation between two street gangs in Vantaa last August.
Police said both gangs fired shots during the incident, and one person was seriously injured, while another was slightly wounded. Three people in their early 20s have been taken into custody during the course of the investigation, and one has been formally placed under arrest.
"The course of events has become clear during the preliminary investigation and we know that shots were exchanged. The police believe the background to the shooting incident was a dispute between the two gangs," the NBI's Detective Inspector, Masi Puolakka, who is leading the investigation, wrote in a press release.
The pre-trial investigation is still ongoing, police added.
Trial begins over planned nightclub attack
Separately, the trial of Jaff, fellow rapper Cavallini (real name Mohamud Yahue Mahdi) and 13 other suspected gang members on charges related to an alleged planned attack on the Kaivohuone nightclub in Helsinki began at the capital's district court on Friday morning.
Yle has taken the decision to publish the names of both Jaff and Mahdi because they have waived their own right to privacy by the material they have openly posted on social media channels, as well as the fact that they are considered to be social media influencers and are suspected of committing serious crimes.
According to the prosecutor in the case, the planned attack stemmed from an ongoing feud between a street gang based in Helsinki — called the Kurdish Mafia or gang 47 and allegedly led by Jaff — and a rival group from Espoo, called L-City.
A rapper associated with L-City was scheduled to perform at an event held at Kaivohuone, and the Helsinki-based gang plotted to take revenge on the group following a series of violent confrontations.
"Serious violence had been planned here, using at least knives, and the use of firearms was also discussed during the planning stage. Several people would probably have been injured," regional prosecutor Perttu Könönen told the court.
The event was cancelled after rumours about the plan spread on social media. Police found members of the Helsinki gang in the vicinity of the Kaivohuone nightclub on the evening of the planned attack, and knives were uncovered during a search of their cars.
The prosecutor is demanding a prison sentence of at least eight years for 22-year-old Jaff, as he is considered to be the leader of the gang, as well as at least seven years for 26-year-old Mahdi. The length of the sentences are justified by the fact that the duo are operating within an organised crime gang, the prosecutor added.
Both defendants deny that they are members of a street gang, arguing that the videos posted on social media are related to their careers as musicians.