Finnish Customs has continued the investigation into criminal suspicions relating to the Patriot missiles transported onboard M/S Thor Liberty. The ship was stopped by the customs authorities at Mussalo harbour in Kotka in December.

Customs apprehended the captain and the first mate of Thor Liberty on 21 December 2011 and questioned them as suspects of an export offence involving defence materiel. Other crew members have been interviewed as witnesses. On 5 January, Customs cancelled the travel ban placed on the captain and the first mate.

On 21 December 2011, Customs seized the 69 Patriot missiles found onboard the ship and handed them over to the Finnish Defence Forces for storage. The export, transit and distribution of defence materiel require an authorisation from the Finnish Council of State or Ministry of Defence. According to information obtained during the preliminary investigation of the matter, a transit authorisation had not been applied for in advance for the missiles in Finland. Customs cancelled the seizure of the missiles and the Council of State granted an export authorisation for them on 4 January. Since then, no obstacles in terms of investigation have occurred for the exit of the missiles from Finland.

The Customs Investigation Service continues to investigate the transit of the Patriot missiles as an export offence involving defence materiel. The authorities will make several requests for legal assistance during the investigation in order to look into related activities that have taken place abroad.

Further information on the preliminary investigation of the export offence will be released in a bulletin on Friday, 27 April 2012 at 1 p.m., unless important new information regarding the matter emerges prior to that date.

Further information: 
Mr Petri Lounatmaa, Head of Investigation, Customs Investigation Service, tel. +358 (0) 40 332 2149