Police detain bombing suspects

TALLINN - Police arrested two men and one woman in connection with the May 19 bomb explosions in Stockmann department store that slightly injured three people.

Two 22-year-old males have been charged with intentional destruction to property and illegal preparation, storage and transport of an explosive device. The other suspect, a 25-year-old woman named Maria, has not yet been charged but she remains in police custody, said Hannes Kont, Security Police Board superintendent.

At the time of the bombing, Maria was an employee of Estonian Security Services, the group guarding the store.

The three have confessed to planting and detonating - via mobile phone - the explosive devices in the groceries department on the ground floor of the Finnish store, Kont said.

"It is not important that they confessed," Kont said. "It is important to prove this in court. We hope it will be a quick trial."

If convicted, the three could face a maximum of ten years in jail and possible fines.

It appears that extorting money from Stockmann was the motive of the three suspects, Kont said. Before the blasts, Stockmann received two phone calls warning of the bombs and demanding delivery of $115,000.

Stockmann increased security measures at the store following the explosions including boosting the number of guards on patrol in and around the store and checking customers' bags upon entrance into the shopping center. Since the arrests, however, bags are no longer searched at the door.

The department store received a copy-cat bomb threat on May 26 but police investigations ruled out a connection between the two scenerios. No bomb was found by the rescue board during that latest search.

Stockmann estimates that it lost about $300,000 to $450,000 as a consequence of the bomb strikes and tightened security measures.