HELSINKI, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Finnish police said on Sunday the main suspect of the Turku stabbings is 23 years old, not 18 years old as he himself has claimed.
The police said the real identity of the suspect, actually born in 1994, was ascertained through international cooperation.
The police did not released his name, though. He has been using the name Abderrahman Mechkah since he was caught on the scene.
The young man allegedly killed two Finnish women and wounded eight others when he stabbed people with a huge knife in central Turku, western Finland on Aug. 18.
Police said that the interrogation with him has made some progress and he has talke, but did not give further details.
Identifying names and ages of the huge amount of asylum seekers has caused additional work for authorities in Finland.
If an asylum seeker is under 18. he or she is considered a minor. An unaccompanied minor has a better chance to be granted asylum than an adult. There are special reception centers for minors.
Finnish authorities have used anatomical and biochemical indicators to determine the real age. Some blatant cases of misrepresentation have been solved with those methods.
