Five persons, including an underage boy, are accused of hunting 18 deer and 30 rabbits in western Finland, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

The police are investigating into the case of killing the deer and rabbits by shooting them with .22 calibre rifle from a car. The acts were carried out in the last six months, said the Yle report.

The police said the accused are suspected of killing about 50 animals from a car.

The suspects allegedly used their car to hunt at night, focusing bright light into the eyes of the animals in order to blind them and then shot them down.

The crimes were premeditated and planned, Chief Inspector Ove Storvall told Yle.

At the end of May members of the Verstersundsby hunting club found a dead deer in the area, and noticed that it had not been shot with a traditional hunting shotgun but a small rifle.

Storvall said on the same night the hunters discovered the first deer carcass, police made their own discoveries of other carcasses, triggering a full investigation, said the report.