An approximately 80-year-old man was found in “poor physical condition” after living for at least 20 years in a windowless basement lacking a toilet or kitchen, Finnish police said Friday.
Two men and one woman, aged around 60, had been detained but later released, police told AFP, adding the suspects and the victim knew each other but were not related.
Police have launched an investigation to determine if the other individuals living in the same house in Helsinki had “committed human trafficking, exploiting the man’s dependent situation and placing him in degrading conditions, potentially for financial gain”.
The man was discovered in a house in a northern district of the Finnish capital during a police house search on Monday and was “in need of immediate assistance”.
The basement he lived in was “a windowless room, lacking access to bathing facilities, a toilet, or the ability to prepare food,” police said.
“He had been living in these conditions for at least 20 years,” chief inspector Jari Korkalainen, who is leading the investigation, told AFP, calling it “an exceptional case”.
“As time has passed the person’s health has deteriorated,” he said.
Police said the man was “now under the care of the appropriate authorities.”
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