Group detained in Tallinn’s Nõmme district was not unusual for police

Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board detained 15 suspected undocumented migrants outside an accommodation facility in Tallinn’s Nõmme district on Thursday, ERR reports. Authorities said similar incidents have occurred in other parts of the city.

Neighbours alerted police about people whose appearance and behaviour stood out in the area. Officers initially detained 12 people at the scene. The other three had already left, but were detained several hours later.

The migrants were detained outside a guesthouse. The owner told ERR that he had not known they were staying there, although the building was later left in disarray. He said he had no security-camera recordings or other evidence confirming that the people had stayed at the property.

Local residents told ERR that plain-clothes police officers could still be seen around the building after 11 p.m. Dogs and drones were used in the search, which also covered a nearby forest.

Indrek Aru, head of the Northern Prefecture’s Border Guard Bureau, said no additional people were detained during the late-evening search.

“If there is reason to believe that people who have no legal basis to stay in Estonia may be present somewhere, we naturally check that information. That is what we did in Nõmme as well,” Aru said. “When we detained a larger group of people in the area who apparently had no legal basis to stay, we naturally looked around more widely.”

However, police are not certain that all 15 people detained on Thursday belonged to the same group.

“There is clearly reason to look for such connections, and work on that is still under way,” Aru said.

The Police and Border Guard Board did not disclose details of its communication with the property owner. Aru stressed that accommodation providers must check whether citizens of third countries arriving to use their services have a legal basis to stay in Estonia. This requires checking their documents.

“Naturally, checking and fulfilling these requirements is more complicated in the case of guest apartments offered for short-term rental,” Aru said.

He urged owners of rental properties to notify police if a large number of people arrive at their guest apartment who may not have a legal basis to stay in Estonia, or if they appear to have arrived in poor condition and from difficult circumstances.

Although the group detained in Nõmme attracted considerable attention, the incident was not unusual for the Police and Border Guard Board.

“We have also found groups of foreigners at other accommodation facilities and in other districts whose legal basis for staying in Estonia may not be in order,” Aru said. “What happened in Nõmme is not an isolated case. We have had a few similar incidents. This case simply received more public attention because considerably larger forces responded.”

Police receive unfounded reports based on skin colour

Interior Minister Igor Taro also urged people to report suspicious individuals.

A Police and Border Guard Board representative called for a measured approach, saying officers had already received well-intentioned reports but that people should use common sense when contacting the authorities.

“Not every person with a different skin colour is problematic. This issue should be viewed in a balanced way,” the representative said.

Police have already received unfounded reports about people based on their skin colour. In some cases, officers were told that a person was likely staying in Estonia illegally or without a legal basis, but later established that the person had all the necessary documents, was law-abiding and also spoke Estonian.