PUTTING LID ON SMUGGLING WILL PRESENT CROATIA AS SERIOUS PARTNER

ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - Discovering smuggling chains of people, drugs and weapons is a chance for Croatia to show itself as a serious partner to the European Union, but the fifteen members should assist Zagreb with finances and technology, a senior official at the Croatian Foreign Ministry told Hina last week. "This is a great opportunity for us to expose ourselves as a serious and credible partner," the source said. On January 24 Croatia took over the chair of the 3rd Stability Pact working table dealing with issues of security and is, within this framework, seriously working on severing people-smuggling chains. "This is one of the priorities of our chairmanship," the official said. Croatia is not the source of the problem of illegal migrants, they come from other countries and wish to cross over to western Europe via Croatia. Croatia does not stimulate the smuggling, nor are its citizens being smuggled, but the EU is asking of Zagreb to sever the smuggling chains and "in a degree in which we can show we are serious we shall be accepted," the source explained, adding "should one fail to do this, one is treated as a state supporting this sort of thing". By severing of people-smuggling chains we are helping the countries chosen as destinations, primarily developed western European countries. Last year more than 23,000 illegal migrants were caught in Croatia, mostly Chinese and Iranian citizens who were being assisted by smugglers to be transferred to west European countries. Croatia's biggest problem as a corridor for smuggling is the "physically unsecured" border with Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Croatia is working on strengthening border control with Bosnia," the Foreign Ministry official said. Croatia is also a signatory to the UN Convention against organised crime and to the protocols on preventing trade with people and legal migration. The smuggling of narcotics and weapons from Croatia into western countries does not have institutional support and Croatia as a country is not involved in this as a country, the source stressed, adding Croatia is, nevertheless, being asked to cut off the chains. Weapons, explosive and rockets were confiscated in Split last July, apparently intended for North Irish republican terrorists, and an attack was carried out on the MI6 headquartes in London last Septemberwith weapons allegedly from Croatia. The Irish Times wrote about this at the time, and the British representative at the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, John Taylor, confirmed to Croatian reporters that the IRA was being supplied with weapons arriving from Croatia. The Ministry official did not wish to comment on these allegations, but said it was not impossible. A fraction of the Irish Republican Army which is refusing to acknowledge the signed peace agreement is purchasing weapons from whoever is selling, and there have been many such people in this region. "The only ones profiting from this are the mafia and arms dealers, but Croatia as a country has nothing to do with it," the source stressed. The most recent arms confiscation was carried out last week when a group suspected of having smuggled arms into western countries, allegedly headed by a retired Croatian army Lieutenant Colonel Bruno Ivan Zorica, also known as Zulu, was discovered. Some of the apprehended are also charged with smuggling narcotics. (hina) lml