CROATIAN POLICE WITHOUT COMMENT ON CLAIMS ABOUT THREE CITIZENS' CONNECTION TO DJINDJIC MURDER

ZAGREB, March 15 (Hina) - Officials at the Croatian Interior Ministry on Saturday would not comment on speculations in the press that the Serbian police requested a check-up of three Croatian citizens believed to be linked with the assassination of Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic. #L# "Immediately after Djindjic was assassinated, the Belgrade Interpol office requested assistance and contacted the Zagreb Interpol office, as well as all other offices of that international police organisation in the region, especially in neighbouring countries," said Nino Jaklin from the ministry's public relations office. "Acting in line with obligations arising from membership in Interpol, we immediately took all the necessary operative measures," Jaklin said. Jaklin would not comment on the authenticity of claims published in a Zagreb daily that Belgrade had requested a check-up of three Croatian citizens who had reportedly entered Serbia three days before the murder with the help of a Serbian special operations unit, the so-called Red Berets. The unit was formerly commanded by the prime suspect in Djindjic's assassination, Milorad Lukovic Legija. Quoting sources in the Serbian police, the press stated that the said people were specially trained members of the French Foreign Legion. A source in the Croatian Interior Ministry said the police had carried out the check-ups but the said persons did not have files which would connect them with crime in any special way, nor was it confirmed that they were members of the French Foreign Legion. (hina) rml