Finnish UN official details recruitment attempts by Israeli spies

Raitasaari

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has published a relatively detailed account of attempts by Israeli intelligence agents to recruit United Nations (UN) personnel stationed in the Middle East and the Balkans. The source of the details is Reijo Raitasaari, a 30-year veteran of the UN and other international organizations, who was stationed for several years in the Middle East. Raitasaari admitted that he was targeted at least three times by Israeli intelligence recruiters during his career and that the Israelis often used “[s]ex and money […] as bait in such attempts”. He said that sending attractive Israeli women to parties of UN personnel was standard practice by Israeli intelligence agencies attempting to recruit UN workers. When offers for sex were accepted by married male UN workers, the Israeli spies would resort blackmail as a method to secure their cooperation. Raitasaari also detailed his relationship with Raimo Majuri, the Finnish military officer who spied on behalf of Israel and later immigrated to Israel, where he changed his name to Ram Laor. It appears that Suojelupoliisi, Finland’s security police (otherwise known as SUPO), took the Helsingin Sanomat revelations seriously. Earlier today, the agency announced plans to launch a training workshop designed for Finnish international agency personnel stationed around the world, “to help them deal with possible attempts of recruitment by foreign intelligence services”.