Police turn 2170 back from Uusimaa border, fine 11

The police inspected a total of 247,694 passengers of vehicles and trains at the Uusimaa border in the first week since the restrictions on movement to and from Uusimaa came into force on March 28.

A total of 2,170 people were turned back – 0.9 per cent of those inspected – and 11 were fined for breaching the Emergency Powers Act, said a press release issued by the Helsinki police on Tuesday.

Adherence to the restrictions on movement has been monitored on major arteries and other large roads as well as rail, air and sea traffic in and out of Uusimaa.

Operations are led by the Helsinki Police Department, which monitors adherence to the restrictions in cooperation with the police departments of Eastern Uusimaa, Western Uusimaa, Häme, Southeastern Finland, Southwestern Finland and Central Finland. Additionally, the police have the official assistance of the Defence Forces and Border Guard.

“The police have now been intensively monitoring adherence to the government’s restrictions on movement in Uusimaa for a week. We have found that most people have taken the restrictions seriously and the amount of traffic has consequently fallen. Monitoring continues, and we ask that everyone be patient and consider whether crossing the Uusimaa border is strictly necessary,” said Police Chief Lasse Aapio of the Helsinki Police Department.