In addition to already known case of a senior border guard officer shooting himself with a service gun at Haapsalu police station, it emerged on Monday that two other policemen committed suicide last week.

A border guard officer shot himself to death on Thursday, after being presented with a search warrant – he was suspected of sexually exploiting minors.

It was disclosed today that two days prior to Haapsalu incident, on Tuesday, an off duty policeman in Võru took his own life, albeit shooting himself with his personal gun.

On Friday, policemen in Kuressaare found that one of their colleagues had committed suicide at the police station, using a service gun.

Police and Border Guard has not yet disclosed the circumstances or possible motives of the other suicides.

Elmar Vaher, the head of Estonian police, said that at this difficult time, the organization’s employees “need peace”. “We have given days off to policemen who had close contact with these events, but obviously we have to get on with our everyday tasks as well,” Vaher said, adding that there are many emotionally demanding tasks the police faces every day, but there is a psychological support from experts in place.