British citizen Melvin Nelson Perry arrived in Helsinki late Monday evening to face charges of stealing six valuable maps hundreds of years old from the library of the University of Helsinki earlier this year.

   

From Helsinki-Vantaa Airport he was taken directly to the police lockup in Pasila. On Wednesday he is expected to be remanded in custody.

In London, Perry

said that he wanted to come to Finland voluntarily, and his intentions were made known to Helsinki's criminal police by Interpol. On Monday representatives of the Helsinki Criminal Police and the National Bureau of Investigation flew to London to escort Perry to Helsinki.

   

The police have very strong evidence that Perry had used his personal charm and gentlemanly manner to gain the confidence of the library personnel and steal the maps from the University Library in February last year. Two of the maps were returned to the Finnish embassy in London. Four are still missing.

   

Officials are still trying to ascertain the identity of the anonymous person who returned the two maps.

   

Finnish police also hope that their upcoming interrogation of Perry will help them find out what happened to the missing maps. Officials are not ruling out the possibility that Perry had been paid to steal the maps in question.