HELSINKI (AFP) - A top Finnish police official rejected a warning from US authorities over the weekend that a terrorist attack could be imminent in the Nordic country or in other nations in the region, and said the alert was probably based on a rumor.
"There are lots of rumors milling around all the time. So far we think this is one of those million rumors. Lately we have heard many similar rumors, but none of those have proven to be true yet," Paavo Selin, head of the security unit at the Finnish Security Police, told AFP.
"We have not received any concrete information referring to this in the Nordic region. Just some general rumors that we are checking," he added.
The United States on Sunday warned US citizens living in or passing through the Nordic and Baltic states of possible imminent terrorist attacks in crowded public places there.
The State Department, in notices issued by embassies in Finland and Latvia, urged Americans to be particularly vigilant in shopping centers and in mass transportation hubs in the Nordic and Baltic nations.
"The US government has received information that led us to believe there is a threat of possible terrorist attack in the region. The State Department is continuing to monitor the situation," Victoria Middleton, spokeswoman for the US embassy in Helsinki, told AFP.
"The information (given) is as specific we can be," she said, adding that the advisory would be updated as soon as new information emerged.
"With the closeness to the presidential election and the bin Laden message, it is natural that they want people to be aware of the situation," Selin said.
The Finnish Security Police insisted however that there was nothing to indicate an imminent terrorist act either in Finland or in neighboring countries.
"We do not know of any bin Laden-inspired groups in Finland," said Selin, referring to Osama bin Laden, head of the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda.
"But we do know of some connections between individuals (here) and abroad. And some of these are suspicious, but not enough that we would launch a criminal investigation against anybody," he added.
"In all the Nordic countries the security level is absolutely much better than in the rest of Europe," he said, adding that Finnish police had stepped up security at the US embassy in Helsinki when they received Sunday's warning from Washington.
Finland is one of the most ethnically homogenous countries in the world, with only some two percent of the population being of foreign origin, mostly from neighboring countries.
According to official statistics, a total of about 3,500 Iraqi and 2,500 Iranian refugees have settled in Finland, mostly through United Nations programs.
11/01/2004 - 10:34 GMT - AFP