Two 15-year-olds suspected of attempted murder ordered by another party

The Helsinki Police Department has submitted a pre-trial investigation to the prosecutor for consideration of charges. The investigation into Swedish organised crime and street gangs in Northern Helsinki revealed that Crime as a Service has become a reality in Finland.

Based on the pre-trial investigation, the police suspect that a drug debt led to reprisals in a case of arson and attempted murder. 

The crimes under investigation include attempted murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated criminal mischief, an aggravated narcotics offence, and aggravated violation of domestic privacy. 

Three suspects, who were 15 years old at the time of the incident, remain in custody. Two of them are suspected of attempted murder and aggravated criminal mischief. All three are also suspected of aggravated narcotics offences. 

The young age of the suspects and the seriousness of the crimes are exceptional in pre-trial investigations into organised crime in Finland.

Several suspects have connections to street gangs in Northern Helsinki, and the crimes are considered to have been committed, at least to some extent, as part of an organised criminal group.

Drug debts being collected

Since December 2025, the Helsinki Police Department has been investigating a series of crimes involving large-scale drug dealing and acts of revenge motivated by drug-related debts. 

The pre-trial investigation indicates that the incidents arose in the wake of a failed drug deal in December. This gave rise to a debt and sparked a chain of events that led to arson and attempted murder.

Shortly after the drug deal, three men went to an apartment in Helsinki, looking for the person who owed money for the drug deal. The only people there were bystanders: a couple with a young child. The debtor was not present. The people in the apartment were threatened with violence if they failed to reveal the debtor’s whereabouts. At least one suspect had a weapon, and these suspects threatened to blow up the apartment. Eventually, the suspects absconded with a passport and a mobile phone belonging to the injured party.

The incident is being investigated as an aggravated robbery, and the suspects remain in custody.

Debt collection escalated into aggravated criminal mischief and attempted murder

A few days later, on 17 December 2025, a fire was deliberately set in the stairwell of an apartment building in Korso, Vantaa. 

The fire spread very quickly and posed an immediate threat to the lives of all the residents in the stairwell. The stairwell was the building’s only exit route, so the rescue services had to evacuate several people through windows. The entire stairwell was engulfed in life-threatening combustion fumes and flames. The most intense area of fire was in front of the target apartment, and it posed a real risk of spreading into the apartment.

“The pre-trial investigation indicated that the arson deliberately targeted the home of a close relative of a previously sought debtor and the stairwell connected to it. Fortunately, the fire brigade arrived quickly and brought the fire under control. It was only by luck that serious personal injury was avoided,” says Detective Chief Inspector Markku Juurikkamäki of the Helsinki Police Department, who is the head investigator.

The pre-trial investigation revealed that the arson had been planned in a highly systematic way and that various preparations had been made. Among other things, the adults who planned the crime bought a mobile phone with a subscription specifically for the crime. The phone and subscription were given to two 15-year-old suspects, who were instructed to use the phone to commit arson at the address in question. One of them is suspected of starting the fire using a flammable liquid directed at the target apartment in accordance with the instructions he had received.

A total of four people are suspected of aggravated criminal mischief and attempted murder, and they are all in custody. According to the pre-trial investigation, one of them had visited the scene a few days earlier, searching for a drug debtor.

Three 15-year-olds suspected of large-scale drug dealing

During the investigation, the police discovered that the 15-year-old suspects had also been involved in large-scale drug dealing. 

One of the suspects was arrested during a drug deal. He had managed to hand over three kilograms of amphetamines to another person. A working firearm and approximately €7,000 in cash were seized from the 15-year-old suspect at the time of his arrest. 

In addition, the police discovered an apartment in a nearby building where the three 15-year-olds had stored and distributed drugs. All of them are suspected of involvement in the handling and distribution of significant quantities of narcotics. Approximately 15 kilograms of amphetamines and over €10,000 in cash were seized from the apartment.

Based on preliminary investigations, the drug dealing and related acts of revenge were orchestrated from abroad. Several people have been involved in their implementation and preparation. 

Several adults were involved in the incidents in Finland in addition to the three 15-year-old suspects. The pre-trial investigation is now complete and focuses on ten suspects, seven of whom remain in custody.

The suspects are citizens of Finland, Somalia, Kosovo, and Iraq. One holds dual citizenship in Finland and Somalia, and another in Finland and Kosovo.

“The police were able to track down the suspects fairly soon after the fire on 17 December 2025. The investigation quickly linked the motive to a previous aggravated robbery. The identities of the suspects were gradually uncovered through the police’s own intelligence gathering and various pre-trial investigation measures. Suspects were apprehended at several different stages of the pre-trial investigation,” says Detective Chief Inspector Markku Juurikkamäki, the head investigator.

Crime as a Service is also a reality in Finland

Crime as a Service, a phenomenon linked to organised crime in Sweden, has become an aspect of Finnish criminality. 

Over the past year, the Helsinki Police Department has investigated serious crimes where members of Swedish organised crime groups have recruited individuals from Sweden to commit violence in Finland. 

This model is used in Sweden, where serious crimes are committed by minors who been taken into care outside their families. They have reduced criminal liability or no liability at all. This makes them an appealing target for exploitation by organised crime groups. Based on the cases reported to the Helsinki Police Department, this model has also become a reality in Finland. 

“The exploitation of minors and vulnerable young people for criminal purposes is a despicable and highly concerning practice. Similarly, targeting family members or bystanders with violence demonstrates the lack of morality among organised criminals,” says Senior Detective Superintendent Kimmo Sainio of the Helsinki Police Department.

Crime as a Service poses ever-greater challenges for authorities and underlines the importance of cooperation and information sharing among them. This phenomenon will put young people who have fallen into a spiral of crime and other vulnerable young people at real risk in the future. 

It also raises the danger to the lives and health of outsiders if reprisals target bystanders or if weapons or explosives are used in violent offences.