CROATIA AND SERBIA TO COOPERATE IN COMBATING ORGANISED CRIME

BELGRADE, May 9 (Hina) - Croatian Interior Minister Sime Lucin and his Serbian counterpart Dusan Mihailovic in Belgrade on Thursday expressed satisfaction with an agreement on the prevention of organised crime and drug and people smuggling, which was signed on Wednesday.#L# The two ministers said the agreement enabled concrete cooperation between the two countries' police forces in this field. After the talks with Lucin, Mihailovic pointed to the importance of future cooperation, particularly in securing the state border by preventing illegal emigration and people smuggling. He said the two sides would meet once a month to discuss the issue. Serbia and Croatia will be in touch on a daily basis regarding the prevention of international organised crime, Mihailovic said. The two countries' working groups will meet in Zagreb by the end of the month, Lucin said and added he expected the results in the near future. Organise crime does not recognise borders and equipment-wise it is often a step ahead of the police, so this cooperation is a powerful weapon in the struggle against it, Lucin said. He added that cooperation and regular meetings of the two countries' border police represented a step forward in security. Reporters expressed interest in an idea presented yesterday on the introduction of tourist visas during the three peek summer months. Lucin said he personally had nothing against it and added he would propose the idea to the Croatian government. He said he believed the government would not oppose the idea either. Asked whether the revision of trials against Serbs indicted for war crimes would include former Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff Momcilo Perisic and some other persons who had already been sentenced in Croatia, Lucin said this did not refer to them. According to the Croatian Interior Minister, those persons would have to be immediately arrested if they came to Croatia, considering the fact that their verdict was final. (hina) it