MOSTAR MOSTAR, Sept 4 (Hina) - A former deputy defence minister of the Croat-Muslim Bosnian Federation on Wednesday denied that he had been acquainted with the storage of arms in eastern Mostar. During an investigating process at the
municipal court in the southern city, Hasan Cengic refuted that he had known of the arms depots.
MOSTAR, Sept 4 (Hina) - A former deputy defence minister of the
Croat-Muslim Bosnian Federation on Wednesday denied that he had
been acquainted with the storage of arms in eastern Mostar. During
an investigating process at the municipal court in the southern
city, Hasan Cengic refuted that he had known of the arms depots.
#L#
Four months ago, NATO-led international peace keepers confiscated
120 tonnes of mortar shells and three tonnes of explosive in three
secret arms depots in Mostar.
Cengic told reporters that the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) had
received information about the secret arms depots in Mostar back in
1997.
Cengic repeated several times that six years ago, when he had been
the deputy defence minister of the Federation, he had known nothing
about the depots. He added that he had only known that the Mostar-
based company "Soko" was at the time registered for the
manufacturing of weapons and military equipment.
Cengic said that another 150 companies in the Federation had been
producing arms and equipment at the time. Owing to huge debts of the
federal government to those companies, it was decided "to freeze"
them.
Cengic's explanation about the government's debt to the 150
companies implies that six years ago the manufacturing of arms was a
wide-spread activity in the Federation. It cannot be said with
certainty where the arms were stored and who they were intended
for.
Cengic claimed that some weapons had been sold to Israel. The
incumbent federal defence minister, Mijo Anic, has said on several
occasions that the weapons in question were sold to Cameroon.
(hina) ms sb