Finland’s Customs to gain powers to preempt serious crime

Finland’s Customs would be able to gather intelligence covertly before serious crimes—such as drug trafficking—occur under a proposed legal change now circulating for comment, Yle reports.

Currently, Customs can only prevent individual offences and act on short notice before a serious crime takes place. The new regulation would allow the use of planned surveillance and technical monitoring, though wiretapping and home searches would remain prohibited.

A senior official at the Ministry of Finance said the same investigative tools Customs already uses would be applied earlier, even before a specific suspect or charge is identified. He noted that a separate government proposal may later expand the tools to include wiretapping, which would require a constitutional amendment currently under parliamentary review.

The proposed law targets organised crime linked to illegal import, export, or transit. Measures could be directed at individuals or groups suspected of serious criminal activity, such as criminal organisations.

The Ministry of Finance states that Customs’ operating environment has grown more challenging, with threats from crime becoming more severe, diverse, and fast-evolving. Finland is now more deeply embedded in global drug markets and their logistics networks, with professional drug crime and a rising share of foreign nationals involved in drug offences.