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 "Our legislation is obsolete, our controls on the border with Russia poor, and police personnel lack training," explains Kelder.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.