Police in Eastern Finland have been unable to find several asylum seekers who have received negative asylum decisions or whose permit applications are still pending. The Eastern Finland police say that there have been “about ten” such cases so far this year.
Some of the missing people may have left Finland of their own accord. Undocumented persons staying in Finland are usually not sought separately. Instead police strive to apprehend such individuals in the course of normal immigrant monitoring.
“Staying in a country without permission is a lose-lose situation,” says chief inspector Markus Taskinen. “It’s bad for the individuals themselves, as not having documentation means waiving certain rights and being prone to being taken advantage of by human traffickers.”
Taskinen says there are no children among the missing migrants in Eastern Finland.