Image: Yle

Police have moved to put an end to hearsay circulating in the Tampere region that three immigrants raped a young woman in the Mänttä-Vilppula district.

Officials said the claim came to their attention on Tuesday, following which they immediately launched an investigation and interviewed a number of individuals.

However they said that they were unable to unearth any evidence to confirm the report. In statement released Wednesday afternoon, police said that they took the claim seriously.

They are asking members of the public with any concrete information about the alleged crime to contact the regional police at the email address pirkanmaa@poliisi.fi or via their hotline at 0800 90022.

Police also pointed out that anyone found to be circulating false information could face defamation charges.

Kajaani assault claim also baseless

Police also refuted baseless reports by a Kajaani man, who claimed to have been attacked by four dark-skinned foreigners last Thursday. He said that police were looking into the case.

The claims first emerged on social media on Saturday. However police said on Tuesday that their investigations found that no assualt had taken place.