MOSTAR, June 8 (Hina) - Police in Mostar have pressed charges with the municipal prosecutor's office against three top Bosniak (Muslim) officials suspected of the illegal manufacturing and storage of 120 tonnes of mortar shells
discovered in the basements of three factories in eastern Mostar.
MOSTAR, June 8 (Hina) - Police in Mostar have pressed charges with
the municipal prosecutor's office against three top Bosniak
(Muslim) officials suspected of the illegal manufacturing and
storage of 120 tonnes of mortar shells discovered in the basements
of three factories in eastern Mostar. #L#
The charges have been filed against Erol Dzeba, Husein Galijasevic,
and Hasan Tojaga, the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton police said in a
statement on Saturday. Dzeba and Galijasevic have been placed in
custody.
The statement says there is founded suspicion that the three
officials, as responsible Bosnian defence ministry and government
figures, commanded and organised the manufacturing and storage of
explosive devices without reporting this to NATO's Stabilisation
Force and institutions of the Bosnian Federation.
The three suspects told the police that reports on the
manufacturing and storing of the mortar shells in eastern Mostar
had been submitted to a former defence minister assistant for
military production, Mustafa Music.
Sources in the judiciary claim an investigation into Music might
shed light on the political background of the case. Current leads
point to Hasan Cengic, a close Alija Izetbegovic associate who was
relieved of duty as the Bosnian Federation's deputy defence
minister after the United States warned about his "suspicious Arab
connections".
The SFOR discovered more than 9,000 120mm mortar shells in walled-
up basements of tobacco, textile and telecom factories in the
eastern, predominantly Muslim part of Mostar. The shells had been
manufactured in 1995 and 1996, after the end of the Bosnian
conflict.
(hina) ha