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Finnish police ‘quite certain’ about attacker’s identity, five arrested
There was a raid and we have now six suspects in custody, the main suspect and five others, detective superintendent Markus Laine said.
Finnish police raided an apartment in eastern Turku and said it was “quite certain” it had identified the attacker who killed two people and wounded eight during a stabbing rampage on Friday, local media reported.
The raid took place just before 10 pm (1900 GMT), after police located a suspected vehicle, a white Fiat Ducato, whose owner lived in a building located in Turku’s Varissuo suburb, Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reported.
Five people were arrested during the night, as the Nordic country investigated their possible link to the attacker of a now “quite certain identity”, Finnish news agency SST said.
“There was a raid and we have now six suspects in custody, the main suspect and five others,” detective superintendent Markus Laine of the National Bureau of investigation told AFP.
“We are investigating what their role is in this. Whether they had something to do with this act, or if they were just involved with this person (the suspect,)” Laine said.
It was unclear if any of the arrests happened in the raided apartment.
On Friday afternoon, a knife-wielding man went on a stabbing rampage at a market square in Turku, before being shot and arrested, police said shortly after the attack.
It was uncertain if the police were looking for more suspects related to the attack or if more raids would follow during the night. Police warned people to stay away from the city and reinforced security nationwide.
Patrols and surveillance increased after the stabbings, in case more attackers were involved. People were allowed to return to the city centre a few hours later.
Varissuo suburb, Turku’s largest, is home to a large immigrant population and is located about 7 kilometres away from the market square where the attack took place.
