Eighteen face charges in alleged years-long reindeer theft case

Eighteen people have been charged with serious offences in an alleged years-long reindeer theft scheme in Upper Lapland. Yle reports that reindeer herder Hannu Magga lost almost his entire herd in the 1990s, but no one was caught.

Magga, from Enontekiö, had about 1,800 reindeer before they began disappearing. Two hundred female reindeer went missing first, followed by even more the next year. The losses continued until only 17 remained from his herd of more than a thousand.

Magga said the losses cost him his livelihood and affected his health. Bills linked to the case went to debt collection, and he paid them off only this autumn.

Police investigate alleged thefts

The latest case involves hundreds of reindeer suspected of being stolen. Prosecutors said in late October that they had charged 18 people with several serious offences. They allege the planned thefts continued for years and that some of the animals were slaughtered and sold. The charges also include claims that compensation for predator and reindeer damage was wrongly sought.

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation has also investigated the case. Reindeer theft is difficult to prove because an animal can be easy to take but hard to identify as stolen. The article says that few reports of predator damage are checked in the field.

Tapio Nykänen, an associate professor at the University of Oulu’s Giellagas Institute, said Saami reindeer herding has historically had its own internal norms. In the past, someone in need might take another person’s reindeer for food with the community’s tacit approval. Such an animal was called a niestaporos, a practice Nykänen described as customary Saami law. He said this should not be equated with present-day theft, which is culturally closer to stealing other property.

Reindeer disputes have previously led to cycles of retaliation known as reindeer wars. Two reindeer police posts were established in Lapland under the National Bureau of Investigation in the 1970s. They were closed in the late 1990s amid budget cuts and a shift towards investigating larger crime cases. The bureau’s interest in reindeer theft has since returned, with authorities now treating large-scale theft and the alleged resale of animals as serious property and financial crime.

The case covers areas including the Näätämö, Vätsäri, Muddusjärvi and Paistunturi reindeer herding districts, all of which are Saami districts. Prosecutors’ allegations also concern compensation claims worth millions of euros. Last year, the Finnish state paid about 10 million euros in compensation for reindeer killed by large predators.