Shropshire Star

Finnish police officers to get submachine guns amid terror threat

The weapons upgrade comes after a Moroccan asylum seeker killing two people and wounded eight in a stabbing rampage.

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Police at Turku Market Square in Finland after a deadly stabbing attack (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)

Finnish police officers will soon have MP5 submachine guns in addition to their normal equipment.

Ari Alanen, of Finland’s top police body, said the increased terror threat is the main reason for the upgrade. No details were immediately available on when the weapons would be handed out to the country’s more than 7,000 officers.

Mr Alanen told Finland’s news agency STT “we must increasingly consider the weapons we need to take with us”.

From the middle left, Chief of Turku Police, Tapio Huttunen, Finland's Prime Minister Juha Sipila and Finnish parliament member Annika Saarikko standing next to memorial flowers at Turku Market Square (Roni Lehti/AP)
From the middle left, Chief of Turku Police, Tapio Huttunen, Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila and Finnish parliament member Annika Saarikko standing next to memorial flowers at Turku Market Square (Roni Lehti/AP)

On August 19, a Moroccan asylum seeker killed two people and wounded eight in a stabbing rampage in western Finland.

He is being held on preliminary murder charges and suspicion of terrorist crimes.

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