"So far, we have not received any information about the company in question, namely that it has been involved in an illegal arms transfer. But we will look into all the allegations because it is our duty and obligation given that we do not want Croatian ports to become the arms transfer locations or fall into the hands of terrorists," Kirin told Croatian reporters in Brussels.
Amnesty International said in a report that weapons from the Bosnia-Herzegovina war-time stockpiles were exported and shipped to Iraq by a chain of private brokers and transport contractors, under the auspices of the US Department of Defence between July 2004 and June 2005, partly through the southern Croatian port of Ploce.
A lot of weapons left from Tuzla airforce base and part from the Croatian port of Ploce, AI cited a NATO official as saying in June 2005 in its report in which it documented the Balkan arms and ammunition export route.
The same source said that the deal was organised through embassies and that military attache offices were involved. The idea was to get the weapons out of Bosnia where they posed a threat and to ship them to Iraq where they were necessary.
The largest arms shipments occurred in 2005, and Swiss, UK and US companies were involved, but also one Croatian company - Scout d.o.o. - which, according to EUFOR and OSCE sources, played a key role in the early phases of the arms transfer, AI said.
Scout d.o.o. maintained a long-standing relationship with the Pentagon and good connections with the Bosnian Federation Ministry of Defence, said a US State Department diplomat from the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
"The Croatian Interior Ministry is closely monitoring all activities concerning illegal arms, and you saw that a share of weapons from Croatia and Bosnia ended up in the hands of criminals in Europe. As for the port of Ploce, I must say that while checking the customs documents, we did not come across anything illegal," Kirin told reporters.
The Croatian Minister is on a two-day visit to Brussels where he held talks with NATO and EU officials.