FBIS3-24325
"jpusr030___94035"
FBIS-USR-94-030
Document Type:JPRS
Document Title:
FBIS Report: Central Eurasia
16 March 1994
BALTIC STATES
ESTONIA
President Meri, Official on Crime Situation
94P20552A Helsinki HUFVUDSTADSBLADET in Swedish 16 Mar 94 p
11
94P20552A
Helsinki HUFVUDSTADSBLADET
Language: Swedish
Article Type:CSO
[Finnish News Agency/RITZAUS Bureau report from Tallinn:
"Crime in Estonia Increasing Explosively"]
[Text] Estonia today is among those countries of Europe
suffering from the worst crime situation, and Tallinn is one of
the most dangerous cities in the world. This emerges from the
Estonian police statistics for 1993.
"The number of murders has increased by 60 percent since
1992, and measured by 10,000 inhabitants, this is 1.5 times more
homicides as in New York," states Priit A. Kelder, chief of the
International Division of the Estonian Police.
Estonia has only 1.6 million inhabitants.
There are three clearly different categories of homicides:
family murder, arbitrary murder, and organized criminal gang
murder.
Only 66 percent of homicides are solved, and the clearing
percentage in cases involving other types of violence is
significantly lower.
"Our legislation is obsolete, our controls on the border
with
Russia poor, and police personnel lack training," explains
Kelder.
The job of policeman in Estonia is not prestigious, training
is brief, and the pay is under the national average. Twenty
percent of policeman quit the force annually to work in the
private sector, which pays significantly better.
Organized crime in Estonia is especially tied to the Russian
mafia, where there are many former Red Army officers.
"According to what we have detected, all homicides have been
committed with illegal weapons and weapons coming from the
Russian Army," says Kelder.
55 Bombings -- All Unsolved
An entirely new phenomenon that the Estonian police have
been
presented with is that of bombings. The number of bombings rose
last year to 55. The bombs are homemade or originate from
Russian military depots.
"Not one bombing has been solved. But we have strong
suspicions that the perpetrators belong to the organized
underworld, the mafia, and we have good leads to pursue. In the
future, many bombings are going to be solved," assures Kelder.
The explosions often are directed at at business owners who
refuse to pay the mafia so-called protection. There are owners
in Tallinn who have been forced to pay from 10 to 50 percent of
their monthly gross in order to avoid being bombed.
Bombings have also been directed at the police. Two police
stations in Tallinn were subjected to bombings last year, and
three police cars were blown up. In some cases the police have
been almost in a position to arrest the perpetrator.
In May an Italian experts group that has specialized in
combating the Mafia is coming to help the local police in
fighting it.
Finnish and Swedish police have also trained and equipped
some units of the Estonian police force. From Germany the police
have received new police cars and communications equipment.
Meri Warns
Estonia's President Meri has warned of the wave of violence
and the explosive increase in crime.
"Two poles of power may arise in this country: the legal and
illegal," says the president. He has appealed abroad for help in
case the police are not successful against this violence wave.
"If Estonia becomes a smuggling corridor for Kurdish
refugees, radioactive substances, precious stones, and other
illegality, the international community will find it difficult
to regard us as a responsible and credible trade partner," said
the president recently.
Among other things, Meri seeks a more effective guarding of
the border with Russia. He refers to the human smuggling in
February, when 66 Kurds were detected inside a closed container
on a ferry from Tallinn to Stockholm. The Estonian police
suspect a human-smuggling chain with headquarters in Moscow and
Kiev. From there, the refugees are smuggled to Sweden and
Finland via Estonia and Latvia.
A couple of weeks ago, police also found a 2.5-kg
radioactive
object in a container in Tallinn harbor. It was from Russia and
on its way to Scandinavia.
An equally intensive smuggling activity is also occurring in
the car market. A third of all expensive automobiles driving
around the streets of Tallinn have been stolen in West Europe.
It seems there is currently a gang in Tallinn that has
specialized in attacking owners of expensive luxury cars. As the
car owner is walking to his vehicle, he is beaten up and his car
keys are taken. The thieves then drive away with a new Volvo,
Mercedes, or BMW.