Police say they’re investigating a possible environmental crime, after an oil leak at a prize-winning brook in Helsinki.
Since Sunday, Helsinki City Rescue Department have been undertaking operations at the Longinoja brook in Malmi, to clean up to 30 liters of fuel which leaked into the water over the weekend.
“Police suspect that fuel was loaded from a truck in the car park between Friday and Saturday afternoon from 15th to 16th March. The fuel is suspected to have ended up the ground and further through a nearby rainwater drain to Longinoja brook” says Sampsa Marttila from Helsinki Police.
“According to the information received, the fuel had been stolen from a truck in the area. At the location, a plastic hose was found that was suspected to have been used to steal diesel” he adds.
Earler this year, long term clean-up efforts to restore the brook won an environmental prize after attracting endangered species to Longinoja’s waters.
Dozens of volunteers gave up their spare time to work on revitalizing the brook over the last decade-and-a-half, turning it into a viable breeding ground for endangered sea trout.
The prize is awarded by the member organisations of the oldest global environmental organisation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN, and awarded the Longinoja the biodiversity prize for 2017-2018.
