Border guards in Finland have foiled three attempts by bogus shipping companies to obtain transit visas to the country for 'seafarers' who were also fake. The attempts stretched from last month back to January 2007. These followed the same pattern, whereby a nonexistent shipping company approached a Finnish port agent seeking to arrange transit visas for seafarers. The fake mariners arrived at Helsinki's airport, supposedly to relieve others during a ship call in Finland. The transit visas would grant their holders access to all member countries of the Schengen area of the European Union. Working together with port agents and other members of the shipping sector, border guards found that the ships identified either did not exist or were operated in other parts of the world. Consequently, the visas were not issued and the 'seafarers'were not allowed to enter Finland.
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