The PPA has said the migrants have likely entered the European Union after illegally crossing the Latvian-Belarus border. Politicians and the security services say the route is part of a "hybrid attack" by the Minsk authorities with Russian support.

The uptick in migrants in Estonia is likely caused by additional checks on Poland's northern and western borders to stop people smugglers traveling to Germany. The destination has now changed to Finland and Scandinavia, the PPA has said. Over 80 have been caught in the last two weeks, compared to 39 last year.

When police arrived at the scene in a suburb in the south of the capital, they initially detained 12 people. Three others had already left the area, but authorities caught them a few hours later.

Neighbors alerted the police after noticing people whose appearance and behavior stood out in the neighborhood.

The migrants were detained outside the guesthouse. The building's owner told ERR that he had not been aware of them staying at the property, although the house was later found in disarray. The owner said they had no security camera footage or other evidence confirming that the people had stayed at their accommodation.

Local residents told ERR that even late in the evening, after 11 p.m., plainclothes police officers could be seen around the house. Dogs were used in the search early in the evening, and drones were also deployed. Searches were also carried out in a nearby forest.

Indrek Aru, head of the Border Guard Bureau of the North Prefecture, said on Friday that no additional people were found during the late-night searches.

"If there is reason to believe that there may be people somewhere who have no legal basis to stay in Estonia, then naturally we verify such information. That is what we did yesterday in Nõmme. When we detained a larger group of people in the area who presumably had no legal basis to stay here, we naturally looked around more broadly, and that is how those operations were carried out," he said.

However, the police are not certain that all 15 people detained on Thursday belonged to the same group.

"There is obviously reason to look for those connections, and that work is still ongoing," Aru added.

The PPA has not disclosed its communication with the property owner. However, Aru stressed that accommodation providers are obliged to verify whether third-country nationals arriving to use their services have a legal basis to stay in the country by checking their documents.

"Naturally, verifying and complying with those requirements is more complicated in the case of guest apartments offered for short-term rental," Aru acknowledged.

He urged owners of rental properties to notify the police if a large number of people arrive at their guest apartment who may not have a legal basis to stay, or if they appear exhausted and as though they have arrived from difficult conditions.

Although the group of migrants detained in Nõmme attracted considerable attention, it was not an exceptional case for the PPA.

"We have also discovered groups of foreign nationals who presumably do not have a valid legal basis to stay at other accommodation establishments and in other districts," Aru said. "What happened in Nõmme is not an isolated case; we have had a couple of similar incidents. The Nõmme case simply attracted greater public attention this time because a significantly larger police response was involved."

Police have received unfounded reports based on skin color

Minister of Interior Igor Taro (Eesti 200) has also urged people to report suspicious individuals.

However, the Police have already received unfounded reports about people based solely on their skin color.

"I have heard about a few cases where people drew our attention to someone and even approached us on the street, saying they had seen someone who was probably staying in the country illegally or without a legal basis. It later turned out that the person had all the necessary documents, was completely law-abiding, and even spoke Estonian," Aru said.

"I would certainly recommend maintaining a reasonable approach," the PPA representative stressed. "Even today we are seeing well-intentioned reports, but it is important to remain reasonable when making notifications. Not everyone with a different skin color is problematic. This should be viewed in a balanced way."

The PPA is also carrying out additional checks across the country, not only Tallinn and Harju County where the main ports and airports are located.

Aru said police resources have not been exhausted.

"There is no reason for people in Estonia to worry. If you call 112, the police will come, and they do so quite quickly. Estonia has a very good emergency response time. When migration pressure increases, cooperation between countries also increases," he said.

Aru explained that this type of illegal migration is being facilitated by the authorities in Russia and Belarus.

"Naturally, people in the countries of origin of migration are looking for a better life or have other reasons for setting out. But the fact that they have chosen such a route and end up entering our visa area illegally clearly shows that this is a hybrid attack by Belarus," he said.

Migrants have been crossing the Belarusian border into Latvia, Lithuania and Poland since 2021, in what European officials say is a manufactured hybrid attack orchestrated by the Belarusian regime. The issues started after the EU sanctioned Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Migrants cross the border and then try to travel onto western or northern Europe. Last year, Germany and Poland introduced checks on their borders in an attempt to stop people smugglers. Over the past year, several drivers transporting migrants have been stopped at the Polish-Lithuanian border, and now the flow has redirected northwards, the PPA said on Wednesday.

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