Smuggled Goods: Finnair Flight Attendant Traffics 33 Chinese into Finland

A flight attendant working for Finland's national airline Finnair's Asian subcontractor has been detained under suspicion of smuggling 33 Chinese people into continental Europe via Finland. He is believed to be linked to criminal gang activity in Europe and China.

A Chinaman working as a flight attendant for an Asian subcontractor of Finland's national airline Finnair has been detained under suspicion of facilitating illegal entry into the country, Finland's national broadcaster Yle wrote, citing a report from the country's Border Guard.

The detainee is suspected to have smuggled 33 Chinese people (of which 14 children aged 5-14) into continental Europe via Finland by allowing them to bypass the Helsinki Airport immigration control without the required visas.

According to Finland's Border Guard, the man was detained in February 2016 at Helsinki Airport, when he was in the process of ushering two children and one adult travelling from China to Finland. In order for his guests to dodge the passenger border checks, the steward is said to have used an employee's passkey to access a restricted area.

Finnish Border Guard also said the man is suspected to have smuggled his first group of people through Finland as early as in 2013. Border officials believe that he pulled off at least 15 such feats, trafficking into Europe a total of 33 people without the proper paperwork. The "smuggling fee" ranged between 10,000 euros for a child and 30,000 euros for an adult.

Although the man seemed to have worked alone, the Border Guard suspects links to a large-scale organized crime network in Western Europe and China. The man has not been cooperative during the investigation and doesn't think he's committed a crime.