Organised pandering and prostitution in Finland

March, 2003

1. Pandering directed by Estonian and Russian organised crime

Pimps and prostitutes acting independently in Finland have faced hard times in the past few years because of the powerful invasion of the Estonian and Russian organised crime in the Finnish sex market. Up to the middle of the 1990s, the field was dominated by fairly independent pimps, either Finns or ones moved from the neighbouring areas with their Russian and Estonian prostitutes. At the end of the 1990s they faced increasing pressure and even hard violence. Independent pimps and prostitutes were either pressed to get out of the market or to work directly under the leadership of the Estonian and Russian criminal leaders. This situation prevailed especially in big towns in Southern Finland. It was easy for the Russian and Estonian criminal groups' leaders to extend their power to the whole country (1).

Certain Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian criminal leaders reached their goal almost perfectly. Pimps working professionally in Finland are so called hired pimps acting mainly under the leadership of some Estonian and Russian organised criminal groups and their leaders. At the moment the professional prostitution and the organised pandering relating to it is directed depending on the area and town either from Tallinn or Russia, mainly St Petersburg, Petrozavodsk or Murmansk.
It has to be emphasised that since the beginning of the 1990s, the Estonian criminal groups have carried out much larger-scale and more professional pimp-led prostitution than the Russian criminal groups. In 1993 Artur Mistchenko, director of the Militia University of St Petersburg stressed that the Finnish law enforcement authorities should focus on the threat of organised crime especially from Estonia. Mistchenko estimated then that in practice all the Russian prostitutes had a pimp and the extensive pandering and prostitution was a vital part of the organised crime of Russia. The same situation prevailed also in Estonia, where organised crime follows directly the Russian crime tradition. According to Mistchenko there were Russian prostitutes and pimps in Finland already that time, but he said they were not the most important group from the point of view of crime prevention.

Mistchenko said that not the Russians but in fact the tough and strictly organised Estonian and Estonian Russian criminal groups were the biggest threat in the Finnish prostitution market. Retrospectively it may be said that he was perfectly right ten years ago as he assessed the interest and possibilities of the Estonian organised criminal groups to extend the professional crime, particularly that relating to drugs and pandering, to Finland.

2. Acting models and characteristic features of the organised sex business

Countries of departure, working conditions and recruiting
Since the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s, by far the biggest group of prostitutes working in Finland has consisted of foreigners from Estonia and Russia. Nowadays a small number of them come from Latvia and Lithuania. Traditionally the independent Finnish prostitutes working without pimps have been edged out from the professionally led market. There are Finnish professional prostitutes acting on the market, but they have to work under the command of the Estonian or Russian criminal groups' leaders.

The crime investigation has established that the prostitutes from Estonia, Russia, Latvia and Lithuania are fully aware of the nature and conditions of their work as they come to Finland. Even if the promises of the pimps on the working conditions and profit of the work may prove out to be too optimistic, they know that they are travelling to Finland only with the view of selling sex services. In the large-scale prostitution the foreign women are not trafficked to work in sex business in Finland against their own will. Most women are professionals, but among them are several young beginners from different social groups and occupations.

The so called hired pimps working for the Estonian and Russian organised crime in Finland use various pressing and forcing methods. The limiting of the freedom of movement and seizure of the passports of the prostitutes coming from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia is fairly common at least in the capital region and in other big cities.

Limiting the freedom of movement of the prostitutes basically means that the hired pimps close up the prostitutes in the combined working and living premises at least for the agreed working period. They want to guarantee that the prostitute really works for the agreed period. The hired pimps working in a business-like manner presume that the prostitutes coming from Russia and the Baltic states know they are coming to sell sex services and follow the working conditions agreed back home. So they can ensure a regular cash flow for themselves and the main organisers. By following the conditions the prostitutes ensure remarkable daily income for themselves, manifold compared to average daily pay in their own country.

The pimps and the prostitutes coming voluntarily to Finland make oral agreements on the operational preconditions. The pimps do not recruit prostitutes to work in Finland against their own will, since such prostitutes would cause problems and gain negative attention, weaken the daily cash flow and jeopardise the functioning conditions of the whole pandering league. Instead the pimps take the stand that the working conditions agreed in the country of departure and the length of the stay are respected in Finland without compromises. If the pimp and the prostitute agree in the country of departure e.g. on a one week working period, the pimp assumes that the prostitute will work in Finland the agreed period and will not let him know she will finish after a couple of days.

If the prostitute does not follow the agreed working conditions, the main organisers will face great losses. After arrival in Finland the prostitute starts working immediately and the pimp sees to the operational preconditions of the prostitute, such as advertising, working premises and accommodation in advance. If the prostitute refuses to continue the selling of sex services, the activities and the acquisitions of the pimp are wasted on her. Finnish clients are lost and a new prostitute has to be brought to replace the disobedient one. If the prostitutes go on a 'wildcat strike', the pimp will respond with strict sanctions, common in Russia and Estonia.

The hired pimps working for the Russian and Estonian criminal leaders in Finland use the sanction of fine, which is common in Russia and Estonia. If the hired pimp considers that the prostitute has acted falsely or dishonestly - she has not let him know in advance about the beginning of her menstruation or the like - the hired pimp may impose a remarkable fine that the prostitute usually pays by selling a certain amount of sex services and giving the profit entirely to the hired pimp. In a word she works for a certain period without pay.

There are also some unwritten rules in the field. The prostitutes coming from Russia and the Baltic States know that neglecting the agreed working conditions or giving information to the authorities is a great security risk for themselves and their family. In practice it means an inevitable revenge taken on them by the main organisers. The security threat on body or even life concerns also the hired pimps working for the Estonian and Russian criminal leaders.

Although prostitutes are also recruited in Russian, Estonian and Latvian men's magazines -even in an Estonian commercial advertising magazine - most of them are recruited through personal relationships. The large-scale prostitution in Estonia and Russia has always been an integral part of the organised crime, and the criminal groups of these countries have always easily found volunteers to the profitable work in Finland. It has been established in the pre-trial investigation that the owners of brothels in Estonia and Russia send disposed professional prostitutes on business trips to Finland.

Most of the foreign prostitutes active in Finland are Estonian, Estonian Russians and Russian. The Estonian prostitutes come mainly from Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu and the East Virumaa province situated in the north-eastern part of the country. The Russian prostitutes are recruited mainly in Vyborg, St Petersburg, Sortavala and other towns of the Leningrad province, Petrozavodsk, Kostamus, Murmansk and Ivangorod, which faces the Estonian town of Narva on the Russian side of the border.

In recent years, several dozens of prostitutes have also come from Latvia and a small number from Lithuania. There is cause to precise that the organised crime of these countries has not come to the Finnish market along with the Latvian, Latvian Russian and Lithuanian prostitutes. The arrival to the country of Latvian and Lithuanian prostitutes is organised by the Estonian criminal groups, most active in the large-scale prostitution and pandering in Finland.

The arrival of the Latvian, Latvian Russian and Lithuanian prostitutes in Finland has naturally been agreed between the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian organised criminal groups, ultimately between the highest criminal organisations of these countries, the so called 'common treasuries' or obtshaks. According to the intelligence information, particularly Estonian and Latvian, but also Lithuanian leaders of the common treasuries negotiate regularly. The meetings are also attended by leaders of the Russian criminal groups' common treasuries.

Age and number of the prostitutes
Most prostitutes are between 18-29 years old. The average age is 24 and the oldest are 40 years. The professional pimps in Finland are extremely strict about the fact that the prostitutes coming from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia are adults, over 18 years old. In the 1998 amendment of the Penal Code buying sex services from a person under 18 years old was criminalized. In Finland child and teenage prostitution is a marginal phenomenon and it is not supposed to gain ground. From the pimps' point of view the risk of being caught following the child and teenage prostitution and strict sanctions for it are not proportional with the profits gained from it. The Finns who want to use child and teenage prostitutes' services may travel in a few hours to Russia and Estonia, i.e. to Vyborg, Sortavala, Petrozavodsk, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Narva or Pärnu. In these places there is an abundant offer of professionally organised child and teenage prostitute services.

It is hard to estimate precisely the number of prostitutes coming from the neighbouring areas, since a large number of them come and go over the border every day. Different authorities and experts on the field share the estimation that there are about 500 foreign prostitutes in the Helsinki region. At least 70% of them come from Estonia. In 2001 almost a thousand women arrived from Estonia at Helsinki passenger ports and Helsinki-Vantaa Airport seriously suspected of selling sex services in Finland, mainly in the capital region. A quarter of them were turned back based on certain evidence or other facts (such as lack of money, giving false information on the purpose of the trip, visa obtained with false information or entry ban to the Schengen countries). The ones whose entry to the country could not be refused on a legal basis, could after control and hearing be suspected of having arrived in the country with the intention of selling sex services.

In Lapland the market is dominated by Russian prostitutes and pimps. According to the information collected in the summer of 2002, about 50-80 women suspected of selling sex services come to Lapland from Murmansk weekly. The law enforcement authorities of South Eastern Finland estimate that through the border crossing points at Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa and Vainikkala about 150 Russian women suspected of coming only to work as prostitutes come to Finland weekly. In Northern Karelia the frontier authorities say that about 10-15 Russian women that come to Finland through the border crossing point at Niirala weekly evidently to sell sex services in the up-country.

On the whole approximately 10,000 - 15,000 Estonian, Estonian Russian, Russian and nowadays also Latvian, Latvian Russian and Lithuanian prostitutes visit Finland every year.

In Russia and Estonia the professional prostitution is an integral part of organised crime. In these countries the professional sex business has traditionally been led by pimps, whether carried out in brothels, erotic restaurants, hotels or private hired apartments. Since prostitution gives remarkable and regular profit to the organised crime, the pimps in Estonia and Russia have to pay protection money to the organised criminal group acting in the area. Without protection by the criminal group it is impossible for the pimp to carry out his activities for a longer time.

According to a strong organised crime tradition in Estonia and Russia a professional criminal has to act under the control of a criminal group. The organised crime has brought this absolute principle into Finland, especially to the Finnish organised drug and sex business.

Travelling routes and forms of action
The Estonian and Estonian Russian prostitutes come to Helsinki mainly through the passenger ports. A small number of them come from Tallinn to Helsinki by aeroplane or helicopters. Those from Latvia and Lithuania also come through Estonia to Finland. From Russia the prostitutes come mainly through the land crossing points of Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Vainikkala, Niirala and Raja-Jooseppi. Those coming to Finland through Helsinki go further to their final destination by train, bus or in cars of the receiving pimps.

The Finnish police and frontier authorities have noted that the same Finns and the Estonian, Estonian Russians and Russian pimps come to meet the prostitutes at the port time after time. These men invite the women having Russian citizenship from Estonia and ensure to pay their cost of stay in Finland. It has also been noted that some of these men ensure stay for several young women at a time.

It has also been established that if refused the entry to Finland, the prostitutes from Estonia, Latvia and Russia contact the same few lawyers in Finland. They assist the prostitutes if they are refused the entry into the country and then complain about the decision.

Apart from the direct routes into the country there has been more and more reasonable evidence in recent times that the pimps direct Estonian and Russian prostitutes to Finland through a third country, particularly Sweden, Germany or the Netherlands. These routes have mainly been chosen after the Finnish frontier authorities have taken note of that certain women make several trips. It has also been established that the pimps working for the Estonian and Russian criminal group leaders carry out their pandering activities organised from Finland also in Sweden.

For a few years already Estonian Russian and Russian prostitutes have travelled to Sweden without appropriate visa and other travel documents, especially from Northern Finland. These are Russian citizens who have come to Finland with a visa. They have given their address in Finland as Keminmaa, Kemi, Tornio or Rovaniemi, but they have been found in Northern Sweden carrying out prostitution. The Swedish police have returned them to Finland.

In recent times more and more Estonians and Estonian Russian women have been noticed to be on a transit to Norway and especially to Spain. They are suspected of selling sex services in several countries. It can be verified from the stamps in their passport that they have stayed in several Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden and Norway) and EU countries (Spain and Germany).

Costa del Sol in Spain particularly is the destination of a number of Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian woman, suspected of being prostitutes. There is an exceptionally large number of Estonian and Russian professional criminals carrying out, besides a large scale hasis and cocaine trafficking, remarkable sex business in the numerous hotels and restaurants of Costa del Sol.

In Finland the hired pimps working for the Russian or Estonian criminal groups organise the selling of sex services mainly in hired apartments but also in sex clubs and restaurants, modest accommodations and hotels and in Northern Finland in the camping areas. Not so many real brothels have been found in Finland.

3. Status and tasks of the hired pimps

The Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian criminal leaders have succeeded to banish the independent pimps from the Finnish market almost entirely, and the field is dominated by Finnish, Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian pimps that are forced to work as hired pimps directly for either Estonian or Russian criminal groups. The Russian and Estonian criminal group leaders act in a businesslike manner and hire pimps of different ranks. Part of them act as country leaders, part money collectors and protectors. The last-mentioned are called 'torpedoes', specialised in tasks demanding physical strength and even hard violence.

The hired pimps working for the Estonian and Russian organised criminal groups, especially the Finns, are important actors in the professional prostitution in any rank. They know the Finnish operational environment and the manners of the authorities and they know how to behave accordingly. The hired pimp will see that a possibly high profit is gained from the prostitutes. They see to the marketing of the sex services in text television and on the Internet and by distributing visitors' cards advertising sex services. They also take care of the renting of premises, so called 'huts' (they often give false names in the rental agreement), paying the regular rents, making the electricity contract and contacts to the owner and the house manager. They also furnish and maintain the premises with the equipment needed in the professional sex business, such as contraception, apparels and other tools as well as the prostitutes' personal toiletries. The prostitutes do not have to bring these items with them, which reduces the risk of being turned back from the frontier.

Nowadays more and more often the pimps see to the organising and maintaining of operational centres for the business needs. In that way the pimp is able to direct customers to the prostitutes and control efficiently her earnings. From such an operational centre, a pimp may lead the daily work of dozens of prostitutes all around the country and direct the customers calling them at the advertised numbers. Through computers connected to mobile phones and the net the pimp may start an operational centre anywhere in Finland or other countries, for example Estonia.

The pimps receive the prostitutes and the criminal leaders from Estonia and Russia at passenger ports, airports, railway and bus stations and give them mobile phones with anonymous extensions. They also furnish the Russian prostitutes and criminal leaders with an invitation visa, accommodate them (the criminal leaders are accommodated in hidden places, if necessary, to give them shelter from the control of the law enforcement authorities), transport and contacts as well as daily upkeep. They also see to that the invitation visa regulations are strictly followed.

The pimps also see to that the agreed territories are kept to the criminal leaders, which means hindering the coming of independent Estonian and Russian prostitutes and Finnish pimps to the market. They also collect the cash from the prostitutes daily and forward the money to the Estonian, Estonian Russian or Russian criminal leaders. Large sums of cash are smuggled to Estonia or Russia among other goods transports in order to avoid wire transfers.

As experts knowing the manners of the Finnish authorities and the operational environment the Finnish and in Finland permanently living Estonian and Russian hired pimps see to that the activities may be carried out without disturbance. Without them the Russian and Estonian organised criminal groups could not carry out large-scale prostitution giving remarkable profit in Finland. The independent private entrepreneurs coming to the business are forced even with hard violence to work for the criminal leaders active in Russia or Estonia.

The highest leaders of these Russian and Estonian criminal groups make sure that there is consensus about the territories in the Finnish sex business, and that they are respected in order to maintain the continuous flow of cash. They want to avoid violent confrontations and the following contacts with authorities that would immediately make the business more difficult and hinder the carrying out of a large-scale and profitable prostitution.

4. Eastern Crime Tradition and Pandering

The criminal investigation shows that part of the hired pimps working under the Estonian and Russian criminal groups concentrate on the organising of the prostitution services in Finnish towns and provinces agreed in advance and part of them work in fairly large areas. A common feature for them is however that they do not cross the line over their own territories. A hired pimp, submitted to the Estonian organised crime does not take his prostitutes to an area he knows belongs to the Russian organised crime and vice versa.

The strict division into the territories does not concern only the Estonian an Russian criminal groups. In Finland two Estonian-led pandering leagues may act in a certain fairly small area or in one town. Although the leaders of these leagues act in their own limited areas, they may have the same main organiser in Estonia.

The forcing methods of the hired pimps in Finland follow a certain pattern. If individually working prostitutes come to their territory, the hired pimp working for the Russian or Estonian criminal leaders calls the number given in the advertisement on the Internet and makes an appointment. As the prostitute receives the customer, she will also meet the assistant that presses the prostitute to leave the area or work for the hired pimp dominating the area. Besides verbal pressure, hard physical violence may also be used. The prostitute is also pressed to tell the contact information of her pimp in order to get in touch with him for negotiation. If necessary the prostitute is kidnapped and taken to another town to provide sex services for the profit of the new pimp.

If an individual Finnish pimp refuses to work for the Estonian and Russian organised crime, the pressure is increased and hardened. First he is proposed to pay such a huge sum of money with such a tight schedule that it is impossible for him to agree on that. After that he is asked to carry out the corresponding amount of work for the Estonian or Russian criminals pressing him. The pressure that may be even hard violence aims at submitting the pimp to work as a hired pimp. Ultimately the pimp may be taken to negotiations by force. This has occurred in Tallinn as the independent pimp has come audaciously to the city to recruit prostitutes.

The Finnish pimp is much more useful for the Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian criminals, if he works as a hired one than as a one-time payer of the protection money. The Finnish hired pimp may be used as an information source knowing the Finnish authorities and the operational environment. Through the hired pimp the Estonian criminal leaders may find important hidden shelters, if necessary, and hide themselves from the control of the law enforcement authorities. These places may also be used for negotiation and a storage for even large amounts of drugs.

5. Tough actions on independent prostitutes

Along with the Estonian and Russian organised crime the tough straightforward criminal manners have been introduced in Finland. The agreed territories are strictly respected and not even hard violence is avoided against the individual entrepreneurs in the field.

In a professional magazine for the violent crime investigators, Chief Inspector Seppo Sillanpää from the Violent Crime Squad of the Helsinki Criminal Police has written an article on the actions of the Russian and Estonian crime in the Helsinki region (Murharyhmä 1/2002, Päiväkahviseuraa suomalaisille). Sillanpää having investigated robberies and violent assaults on prostitutes for years says that since 1999 prostitutes working without a pimp have been robbed and assaulted in increasing numbers. He also established in 2001 that

'There are several pimps in the Helsinki region. Their homeland is usually Estonia. The monetary profit from the prostitution goes daily to Estonia, although the prostitute is Finnish. If a Finnish pimp uses Estonian prostitutes, he always has to pay for it to someone in Estonia. If he does not pay, his business gets into trouble. The girls are disturbed. They are robbed, their mobile phones are taken, they are transported to the port, assaulted and threatened etc.

No private free enterprise is allowed either, although the Estonian woman could get along with the language. If such activity is noticed […] there will be an [Estonian] Russian or Estonian man behind the door demanding that the girl has to work for a 'stable'.

The capital region is divided between the Estonian 'mafiosos'. They lead the prostitution and collect the profit gained from it. The activities have been spread to all the largest towns in Finland […] The robberies also aim at reducing the number of stables. So the money could be directed to even fewer mafia chiefs. In Estonia the Helsinki region is considered a profitable area, since the population is big enough and the police are overloaded with other tasks.'

In Estonia and Russia the individual prostitutes and pimps have always been treated in a tough manner. The investigation has established that in a densely populated area in Finland a hardworking prostitute may receive 20-27 customers daily. If she works independently, the hired pimp and his Estonian or Russian superior keeping the area as his territory loses the high profit collected from these customers.

The Finnish individual pimps that do not forward their money to Estonia or Russia have found it surprising that their hired pimps rule with such a heavy hand. Anyhow, most of the independent pimps have been banished from the market. The Finnish pimps have sought shelter even from the police.

6. Operator centres, financial profit and sanctions

In recent years, particularly the pandering leagues led from Estonia have taken advantage of the telephone operator centres ensuring the main organisers secure and regular income. The functioning principle is simple: a lady in the operator centre receives the calls in response to dating partner or massage adverts in newspapers or other marketing media. She gives the customer an appointment hour and lets him know the street and house number. She asks the customer to call again as he arrives in front of the house. Then she will give him the exact information about in which apartment the prostitute entertains her customers.

As the customer arrives at the apartment, the prostitute calls the operator centre to inform she is occupied. The operator records it in her bookkeeping. As the customer goes out the prostitute calls the operator again, who will thus know she is vacant again. At the end of the day the pimp or his assistant fetches the amount of money shown by the bookkeeping from the prostitute. In this way they ensure that the prostitute pays the exact sum to the pimp. In practice the prostitute gets only one third or at most half of the sum paid by the customers.

The operator centres are fairly advanced. By means of computers' net connections and dozens of mobile phones the prostitution in several towns may be led from one single apartment. If a customer in southern Finland needs a dating partner in the capital region, he calls a certain mobile phone number that may belong to an operator in northern Finland. From the distance of hundreds of kilometres the operator gives the customer in southern Finland the contact information of the prostitute working in the Helsinki region and correspondingly the prostitute in the Helsinki region lets the operator know the coming and going of the customer. According to the bookkeeping of the operator centre the representative of the pimp fetches the amount of money indicated in the bookkeeping from the prostitute.

In the pandering cases investigated by the police tailor-made computer software were used in the operator activities. In the database, the operators may seek addresses of the prostitutes' premises, descriptions of their location with driving instruction as well as information on each prostitute's special services. In the same databases the pimp keeps a record on the working history of the prostitutes, delicate customer information and up-to-date statistic information on the state and profitability of the whole business.

The advanced operator activities developed by the pimps show clearly the business-like efficiency principle of pandering. The prostitutes coming from Russia, Estonia and other Baltic States work for the pimps literally with a minute-by-minute schedule. Since most prostitutes do not know the Finnish language, the operator mediating customers is often either a Finn or an Estonian prostitute with sufficient knowledge of the Finnish language.

The professional and organised prostitution is highly profitable business for the Estonian and Russian criminal groups' leaders, and the risk of being caught as well as sentences of the hired pimps are fairly low. Chief Inspector Seppo Sillanpää from the Robbery Unit of the Violent Crime Squad at the Helsinki Criminal Police writes in a critical tone in the earlier mentioned article (Murharyhmä 1/2002, Päiväkahviseuraa suomalaisille) that

'large sums of money circulate in the business and it is professional organised crime. By nature it [pandering] is financial crime, and it has nothing to do with sex offences. […] The sums of money gained from the business are huge. Business is almost at the same level as that of drugs offences, and the risk is almost null, since the police rarely interferes. Not therefore that it is not criminal, but because of the slack legal praxis. The pimps are sentenced only to conditional imprisonment, and nothing is recovered from them. Limited resources have to be concentrated on a more productive investigation. The police have been driven to that situation along with the idea of management by results, totally unsuitable for police operations. The pandering offences are not easy to investigate if the whole organisation is attempted to be exposed from the bottom to the top. There are no rights for telephone interception, although all the activities are carried out through telephones nowadays. The situation gets a little better, if the league is caught because of serious robbery or drugs offences, as the Helsinki Criminal Police Robbery unit have done. […]

Pandering is a petty offence. The sentence is usually a fine or at most three years of imprisonment. In other parts of Finland the courts have usually sentenced the offenders only to a fine. Not even the taking of them into the court has paused their activities. They have been interrupted when the offender has been arrested, if the whole organisation [in Finland] has been caught. Individual people are replaced immediately with other people. […] The ultimate winner is usually the pimp and the leader of the organisation who gets paid abroad. He does not necessarily even visit Finland. […] It is not sufficient to apprehend these assistants to the mafiosos (trustees) living in Estonia and sentence them for robberies and extortion, since they are replaced with new workers already within a week.

The prostitution and pandering led from Estonia exposed in Helsinki in 2001 gives an excellent example of the financial profit of the activities. According to the seized bookkeeping (suspected hired pimps and prostitutes heard as witnesses conceded the bookkeeping was correct) the Finnish hired pimps working for an Estonian criminal leader had five apartments for their use simultaneously, basically one apartment for each girl. There were 5-8 Estonian prostitutes involved. They also used an operator receiving the calls and directing the new customer to the vacant prostitute. A visit of 20 minutes cost FIM 300 (EUR 50.46), of which sum the Estonian organisation got FIM 200 (EUR 33.64) and the prostitute FIM 100 (EUR 16.82).

According to the seized bookkeeping there was a total of 491 customers in the five flats during two weeks. The organisation gained FIM 147,300 (EUR 24,774) of them. A sum of FIM 98,200 (EUR 16,516) was given to the organisation and the rest FIM 49,100 (EUR 8,258) was divided between the prostitutes.

During one month, about 1,000 Finnish customers - most of them regular ones - brought about FIM 300,000 to the organisation (about EUR 50,456). The organisation got about FIM 200,000 (EUR 33,637) and the 5-8 prostitutes together FIM 100,000 (EUR 16,819). After the running expenses (rents for five furnished flats, daily advertising in the newspapers, maintenance of the prostitutes) the real net profit of the pimps was at least FIM 100,000 (EUR 16,819) a month.

The prostitution led from Russia and the Baltic States is highly profitable business to the main organisers and their hired pimps as well as to the prostitutes. At the beginning of 2002 the policemen knowing best the state of prostitution in Helsinki estimated that there were at least 50-60 rented flats in the capital region used entirely for providing sex services. It can be resumed with certainty that from the capital region alone large sums of money are smuggled to the main organisers of prostitution, mainly to Estonia every week.

7. Organised prostitution, pandering and trafficking in drugs develop simultaneously

In Finland the organised prostitution and pandering as well as trafficking in drugs have developed in parallel. The traditional Finnish criminals have been displaced by Estonian and Russian criminal leaders. The Netherlands which was very important in the Finnish narcotics business up to the end of the 1980s, has lost its significance. For a few years already the junctions of the Finnish drug traffic have been Tallinn and Spain. Also in Spain the main organisers are Estonian and Estonian Russian professional criminals, when trafficking in drugs to Finland is concerned.

In the organised sex business the Estonian and Russian prostitutes displaced the Finnish ones as they came to Finland at the beginning of the 1990s. Prostitution and narcotics business have both been among the most important sources of income for the Estonian and Russian organised crime leaders. Both these activities have been brought to Finland by the same criminal leaders.

Hired pimps, working particularly for certain Estonian but also for some Russian criminal leaders also traffic and sell drugs in Finland. Some hired pimps have clearly refused to be involved in the trafficking in drugs and they have not been forced to be involved. They have not had any experience in professional drug traffic. As organisers of large scale sex services these hired pimps are most valuable to their superiors, i.e. Russian and Estonian criminal leaders.

8. Estonian and Russian organised criminal groups as sex services providers in Finland

By cautious estimation at least for half a decade the Finnish prostitution market has been strictly divided between certain Estonian and Russian organised criminal groupings. The agreements made on the territories have been respected most carefully.

The highest Estonian criminal organisation, the so called Tallinn Obtshak, or common treasury of Tallinn, decides on all the matters related to the organised crime in Estonia: the territories in the country and abroad, division of work and the amount of money paid to the Obtshak by each criminal group leader. Knowing the structure and activities of the Estonian organised crime it is evident that the agreements on the territories are negotiated in the Obtshak consisting of the country's highest level criminal leaders. The lead of the Tallinn Obtshak active in Estonia has direct connections to common treasuries of St Petersburg and Moscow criminal groups.

No violent fights over the territories have been fought in Finland, since the rules of the game have been agreed in advance between the Estonian and Russian common treasuries. Serious assaults and robberies, common from time to time in the field, have been focused mainly on individual Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian prostitutes and their Finnish pimps, who have not been aware of the territories or have not wanted to respect them.

As a result the organised prostitution and pandering in Finland is led directly from Estonia and Russia and there is a strict division of territories in the field. The largest-scale prostitution and pandering of the country is carried out in the capital region that is geographically limited but rich in population (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and the region of Central Uusimaa). The activities are carried out in small furnished private apartments rented for the purpose of providing sex services.

In Helsinki sex services are also provided in certain erotic restaurants. The sex services offered in private apartments and restaurants differ clearly from each other. In the rented apartments sex services are sold from morning to night, even 24 hours a day, if necessary, and particularly by Estonian prostitutes. In the few erotic restaurants sex services are provided by Russian prostitutes, who take their customers to a hostel or apartment near the restaurant at night and in the early morning hours. These Russian prostitutes also pay to the pimps. The financial profit of the prostitutes in the erotic restaurants is marginal compared to the all-day sex business in the rented apartments.

The capital region has for a couple of years been a territory of the Estonian organised crime, and the Russian criminal groups have not even tried to enter it.

The provinces of Häme, southern, central and northern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and South and North Savo seem clearly to be territories of Estonian organised crime. The Finnish and Estonian hired pimps in these areas have direct contacts to the Estonian organised crime. The areas of Turku, Kotka, Lappeenranta and Joensuu as well as northern Lapland have been controlled by Russian organised crime groups.

Near the eastern border and in the province of Kymenlaakso in the south-eastern Finland the territories have been allocated to criminal groups active in Russia. The prostitution in the Joensuu area is closely connected to the criminal organisations active in Petrozavodsk. The prostitutes working in the area come from Petrozavodsk, Kostamus and Sortavala. The pandering of Russian prostitutes in the Kotka region led from St Petersburg has been fairly visible during the past few years.

Prostitution in Lapland is led both from Estonia and Russia. The situation in Lapland is specific, because in one place there may be prostitution led by Murmansk and Estonia. There have been no disputes over the territories however, mainly because the activities of the two groups are so different. The prostitution led by the Estonian organised crime is mainly concentrated in the biggest towns of the area, such as Rovaniemi, Tornio and Kemi. Sex services are advertised in local newspapers or on the Internet and they are offered in rented apartments. Instead, prostitution led from Murmansk is a typical escorting service that is not advertised publicly.

The prostitutes come from Murmansk to Finland in passenger cars driven by one or two Russian men transporting half a dozen of prostitutes through the crossing point of Raja-Jooseppi. Compared to the rest of Finland the pimps have a minor role in Lapland, since the activities are organised mainly in Murmansk, where the girls come from. Lapland receives weekly some 50-80 Russian women that may be suspected of selling sex services. They make their trips to Keminmaa, Rovaniemi, Simo, Levi, Tervola and Saariselkä. The services of the prostitutes coming from Murmansk are not advertised, but the Finnish customers fetch the girls from the local camping places or other accommodation to their homes or a hotel room. There is also a regular clientele in Lapland. These men may accommodate a prostitute from Murmansk in their homes even for a week.

9. Organised pandering in Finland

At the end of the 1990s, the pandering offences increased significantly in Finland. In 1996 the police recorded only three criminal reports on pandering but two years later the number was 23. In 2000, 31 and in 2002, 64 reports were made. Despite the reinforced police measures to disband the pandering leagues they have succeeded to expose only the tip of the iceberg.

In 2002 a total of 93 persons were suspected of committing the offence of pandering. Most of the suspects, a total of 52, were Finnish citizens. The police criminal investigation and intelligence have established that the most of the Finns suspected of pandering worked as assistants and local organisers for the Estonian led pandering leagues, so called hired pimps. It was also established that part of the suspected pimps, registered as Finnish citizens have moved from Estonia and Russia to Finland in 1990s. They were born in the former Soviet Union, arrived in Finland as immigrants and gained Finnish citizenship.

Most of the suspected cases of pandering including foreigners concern Estonians. In 2002, 30 out of 93 suspects were Estonian citizens. Nine suspects, which is almost one third, lived permanently in Finland and had a Finnish social security number.

Only seven Russian citizens were suspected of pandering in 2002. Six of them lived permanently in Finland and had a Finnish social security number. The rest of the foreign suspects came from Tunisia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia, lived permanently in Finland and had a Finnish social security number. Citizenship of one of the suspects could not be established. The investigation indicated that the Ukrainian and Tunisian citizens were involved in the Estonian-led pandering league. The suspected Yugoslavian citizen worked for the Russian league.

In the spring of 1999 the Ministry of the Interior gave the police instructions to interfere more efficiently in the offences related to prostitution. Following these directions particularly the Helsinki Criminal Police interfered in pandering more powerfully than earlier. In the spring and summer of 2002 the Robbery Unit of the Violent Crime Squad at the Helsinki Criminal Police disbanded pandering leagues led from Estonia in the capital region. It has been noted however that new organised pandering activities led from the neighbouring areas have been started immediately. New pimps have come especially to southern Finland's commercial sex market working as assistants to the Estonian led sex business.

At the beginning of 2002, the National Bureau of Investigation informed (2) that the large-scale prostitution in Finland is led partly by Estonian and partly by Russian organised criminal groups and it is lucrative business directed by pimps. In order to ensure high income and peace at work the Estonian and Russian criminal organisations have divided the Finnish towns and provinces as territories between themselves. The idea comes from the Russian and Estonian organised pandering. By respecting the common agreements on the territories the Estonian, Estonian Russian and Russian criminal groups have succeeded to create an efficient organisation managed in a business-like manner all over Finland.

After the National Bureau of Investigation released the information, a vivid public debate started on the sex business and different forms to prohibit in. Regrettably enough the facts brought out by the NBI have almost been neglected in the debate. The professional pimps carrying out their business in Finland are backed by the transborder organised crime which is led depending on the territories either from Estonia or Russia. The sex business led by pimps involves actually large financial crime and money laundering. The hired pimps working for the Estonian and Russian professional sex business organise the smuggling of large sums of cash gained by prostitution to the main organisers in Estonia and Russia. Besides financial crime and money laundering the organised pandering is also connected to the trafficking in illegal weapons, serious extortion and violence as well as professional drugs crime.

The right of the police to intercept telephone calls has proved to be invaluable in the exposure of serious drugs offences. At the moment the police have no corresponding coercive means in the investigation of the alleged cases of pandering, although the pimp-led pandering is organised mainly with the help of mobile phones and operator centres. The risk of being caught has proved to be very low, since the police has no right for telecommunications interception in the investigation of alleged cases of pandering. Even in the cases where the suspect has finally been charged and the evidence has been sufficient for the court, the sentences have been lenient. It is necessary to amend the Pre-trial Investigation Act and Coercive Measures Act in order to increase the power of the police particularly in the interception of telecommunications.

There is cause to revise the general penal scale for pandering urgently. At the moment, the penal scale for pandering offences in Finnish legislation (Penal Code 20:9) is most lenient. The sentences vary from fines up to three years of imprisonment. The provision dates back to the year 1998, when in the connection of the total revision of the penal code the penal scale was reduced significantly. Unfortunately for the legislators at the same time the Estonian and Russian organised criminal groups succeeded in taking the power in the Finnish sex market and divided the market areas into territories. Because of the lenient penal scale not even the large pre-trial investigations have had greater impact on the pimp-led sex business and the number of prostitutes coming from the neighbouring areas.

Apart from the provision on pandering the penal code should be furnished with a separate provision on aggravated pandering. Revision of the Pre-trial Investigation Act, Coercive Measures Act and Penal Code could have a significant deterrent effect among pimps and customers. If the Finnish customers using the prostitutes' services knew that their telephone conversations with the prostitutes could be exposed to the police, they would certainly think twice about the sensibility of the contact. In commercial sex services the anonymity of the customer is essential. With telephone interception by the police it would be lost.

After the NBI brought out the information to the public, the editors in chief of the largest newspapers stopped publishing sex service advertisements. With the exception of northern Finland the pimp-led sex business interrupted for a short period. The daily newspapers were absolutely the most important advertising media for the pimps.

In order to ensure quick and high income the pimps started to advertise in free papers, text television and on the Internet. An important advertising channel for sex business in Finland and Sweden are www-pages maintained in Estonia. Although pandering is a criminal offence also in Estonia, the acts of the Estonian authorities have shown that in practice pandering is not considered as a criminal act.