THREE Finnish men working for a mobile phone company in Dubai have been detained by Iran while fishing near a disputed island in the Gulf, the Finnish embassy said yesterday.

Finland expected Iran to free them within the next couple of days, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.

The three had apparently drifted into Iranian-controlled waters accidentally while on an angling trip from the United Arab Emirates, said Esa Hurtig, charge d’affaires at the Finnish embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Mobile telecoms equipment firm Nokia Siemens Networks said the three men worked for it in the trade and tourism hub of Dubai.

“There are three Finnish citizens who were fishing and strayed into an off-limits area near Abu Musa island. This is a sensitive area and it happens,” Hurtig said.

The three were detained Saturday.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards detained 15 British military personnel aboard two small boats in the northern Gulf in March, triggering a diplomatic storm.

Britain denied the sailors had strayed into Iranian waters. They were freed after 13 days.(SD-Agencies)