Nordic interior ministers discuss crime rise during pandemic

The interior ministers of the five Nordic countries on Friday discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic security, and said they were concerned about the increasing crime rate during the pandemic, reported Xinhua.

The video meeting of the ministers of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland was convened by Finland and was chaired by Finnish Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo.

The ministers said that the economic pressures of the pandemic may increase the risk of human trafficking and strengthen organized crime in their countries.

At a press conference here, Ohisalo talked about the penetration of organized crime into the systems that manage the governments' emergency relief funds.

Ohisalo said that in Finland the police have to respond to an increasing number of emergency calls from private homes, and that internet-facilitated crime is also becoming a problem.

Earlier on Friday, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that his country's decision to maintain the travel restrictions on neighboring Sweden will not affect bilateral relations. Finnish media noted that the decision had ruffled feathers in Sweden.