Omar alleges Supo recruitment attempt preceded his deportation

Omar, an Iraqi national, says Finland’s Security Intelligence Service tried to recruit him as an informant and that he was deported after he refused. Yle reported that the Security Intelligence Service denies trading assistance with citizenship applications.

In August 2023, Omar was leaving a meeting related to job seeking at the former employment services office in Tikkurila, Vantaa, when an unknown man stopped him in the car park.

According to Omar, the man introduced himself as an employee of the Security Intelligence Service and asked to be called Timo. He briefly showed a police identification card, covering his name and identifying details with his fingers.

Omar says this began an attempted recruitment that continued for almost two years. Yle reviewed documents supporting parts of his account and interviewed his wife and his lawyer, Ville Punto.

Omar is not the man’s real name. He is appearing anonymously to protect the safety of himself and his family. He has told his story consistently on several occasions and has since left Finland with his family. Yle has not been able to independently verify all of his claims.

Messages signed with the initials TE

Omar says Timo offered him cooperation in which he would gather information about two Iraqi men he had previously known. The men were suspected of having links to terrorism.

According to Omar, he was asked to become friends with the men again and report their activities to the Security Intelligence Service.

“I asked whether it was compulsory and said that I did not want any problems,” Omar said.

Omar says Timo told him he would stay in contact and sign his messages with the initials TE. The initials referred to the employment services office outside which they had met.

Omar no longer has the messages. He says his phone restarted one morning and all the data disappeared. His wife told Yle that she had seen the messages and heard the calls her husband received before the phone was emptied.

Omar says he told no one about the case apart from his family and lawyer because he feared for his safety.

Timo appeared soon after Omar had submitted an application for Finnish citizenship and attended an interview with the Security Intelligence Service connected to the application.

During the interview, the discussion quickly turned to the two Iraqi men Omar knew. He said he had met them at a barbecue in Finland several years earlier. He had stayed in contact with them for some time, but also said during the interview that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with them.

Omar considers the men dangerous and feared for his family if he cooperated. He has a Finnish wife and young children.

“Greetings from the boss”

After the meeting in Tikkurila, TE contacted Omar by phone. He says he repeatedly refused to cooperate, but the contacts continued. For the next two years, Omar says, the man regularly appeared in his car at places where Omar was spending time.

After several meetings, Omar says the man handed him an envelope.

“He said it was greetings from the boss,” Omar recalled.

The envelope contained 350 euros in 50 euro notes. A similar incident later occurred, when the sum was 1,000 euros. Omar says Timo explained that the money was payment for the time he had spent. Omar’s wife says she saw the money.

After almost two years of contact, Omar received a call telling him that the Security Intelligence Service had submitted a statement about him to the Finnish Immigration Service. Shortly afterwards, the Finnish Immigration Service rejected his application and ordered him to leave Finland, citing the security threat he was considered to pose.

Yle checked Omar’s background. He was convicted of assault in 2018 and received a fine. The sentence was not cited as the reason for his removal from Finland.

Yle also reviewed the Finnish Immigration Service’s decisions and an appeal to the administrative court, which Omar prepared with assistance from his lawyer, Ville Punto.

Omar has since left Finland with his family but wanted to bring his case into the public domain.

Security Intelligence Service: Becoming an informant is voluntary

Ilkka Hanski, head of the Security Intelligence Service’s security clearance department, spoke to Yle at the agency’s new premises in the Kaartinkaupunki district. He said he found it difficult to believe that the service had acted as Omar described.

“We do not trade assistance with residence permits or citizenship applications. It would also be foolish, because something like that cannot be promised,” Hanski said.

Hanski said participation in informant activities is voluntary.