Police suspect five men from Central Finland of aggravated drug offences committed in 2025 and 2026, and say they found a large-scale cannabis cultivation.[1][2] Officers arrested the suspects in summer 2026, and three of them remain held on remand.[1] At the same time police searched buildings controlled by the suspects and an industrial hall.[1][3]

The searches led police to seize cannabis plants and potent cannabis material weighing more than 20 kilograms in total.[1] Police put the street value of the cannabis at about 240,000 to 370,000 euros.[1][4] Detective chief inspector Ari Rutanen, who led the investigation, said police believe at least two crops had been harvested before the searches.[1] Police suspect the cultivation and sale lasted about a year.[1][4] The growing took place on several properties in Äänekoski, Viitasaari and Saarijärvi in Central Finland.[1][3] Rutanen said the amount suggests the operation was professional and that cannabis was grown for sale as well.[1] The growing used old residential properties in remote areas.[1]

Police said the suspects had different roles, for example in cultivation and in sales.[5][3] In aggravated drug offences involving cannabis the threshold is one kilogram, a limit the amount found far exceeds.[1] Rutanen said such a large case is unusual, because cases that come to the authorities’ attention are usually small operations in a single flat or a grow tent.[1] Police have completed the preliminary investigation, and the case has gone to prosecutors for consideration of charges.[1] The statement came from the Central Finland police department, whose account Yle and Rikosuutiset published.[6]