Prosecutors Consider Terrorism Charges Over Suspicious Packages Sent to Party Headquarters

According to Yle sources, the suspect in the case is a man in his forties from Pirkanmaa who was once a member of the Finns Party.

One of the suspicious packages was sent to the Left Alliance party office in Tampere. Photo: Juha Kokkala / Yle

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has concluded an extensive investigation into a number of suspected terrorism offenses and has forwarded the case files to prosecutors for further review.

The case concerns a series of suspicious packages sent to political party offices last year.

The first incident was reported on February 16, when suspicious packages arrived at the Left Alliance party office in Helsinki and Tampere. A similar suspicious package arrived at the Social Democratic Party (SDP) office in Tampere a week later.

Later, suspicious packages also reached the SDP office in Turku, the Left Alliance office in Pori and the Green Party and SDP offices in Helsinki.

The parcels were sent just before last year’s general election, at a time when all three parties that received the parcels — the SDP, the Greens and the Left Alliance — were in power.

A police spokesman said on Friday that evidence uncovered during the initial investigation indicated the bomb threats were an attempt to influence the democratic process.

“The technical investigation showed that the packages sent were very similar in terms of details. It is also believed that the same suspect posted provocative and threatening materials on forums between the end of 2022 and spring 2023 in connection with the parliamentary elections. In connection with this, this person is suspected of public incitement to commit a crime,” the investigating inspector Sanna Springare written in an NBI press release.

Yle understood that at least some of the packages contained insulating wool and wires, suggesting that the sender wanted to give the impression that it was an explosive device.

The suspect in the case is a man in his forties from Pirkanmaa, according to Yle sources, a former member of the Finns Party. He has denied the allegations by both the NBI and Yle.

NBI also investigated plans for a “satanic ritual murder”

In addition to the investigation into the suspicious packages, Yle learned that the same suspect was being watched by the NBI in connection with plans to potentially commit a ritual murder.

The suspicions arose due to evidence uncovered by the NBI during its investigation into the suspicious packages.

During a search of the suspect’s home, officers found a number of items used in satanic cult rituals, as well as a book titled 21 polkua pimeyden valtakuntaan — loosely translated as “21 Paths to the Kingdom of Darkness” — is a Finnish book describing ways in which one can become a Satan worshiper.

In October 2023, a Yle reporter found an “altar” near the suspect’s home. Photo: Silja Viitala / Yle

The book’s recommendations include becoming a neo-Nazi as a step toward “true Satanism,” as well as a description of a ritual murder of a young man on the summer solstice. Police believe the suspect had begun the “ritual path” described in the book and planned to carry out a human sacrifice on June 21, 2023.

However, the NBI did not launch a preliminary investigation into this suspected crime, and the man denied in an interview with Yle that he practiced a satanic cult.