Finnish fugitive arrested in Albania with INTERPOL support

30 January 2019

TIRANA, Albania – Police in Albania have arrested a Finnish national who was wanted internationally for several drug and firearms offences.

Police in Albania have arrested a Finnish national who was wanted internationally for several drug and firearms offences.
Police in Albania have arrested a Finnish national who was wanted internationally for several drug and firearms offences.

Mike Soldier, aged 34, was wanted by Finnish authorities on an INTERPOL Red Notice. He was also on both Finland’s and the EU’s list of most wanted individuals and considered a danger to public safety.

The operation leading to the arrest was carried out by the Albanian State Police’s Department of Criminal Police Central Directorate for Investigation, in collaboration with the Local Police Directorate of Tirana.

Information exchanged between the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Tirana and INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Support unit at its General Secretariat headquarters supported the operation and arrest.

Authorities in Albania are holding the suspect subject to his extradition to Finland, where he faces a jail sentence of more than three years imprisonment.

Circulated to 194 INTERPOL member countries, the Red Notice is one of INTERPOL’s most powerful tools in tracking international fugitives.

Containing identification details and judicial information on a wanted person, INTERPOL Red Notices communicate to police worldwide that a person is wanted by a member country and request that the suspect be placed under provisional arrest pending extradition.