CROATIA RETURNS SLOVENE ESPIONAGE VAN SEIZED IN 1998

OTOCEC NA KRKI, April 11 (Hina) - Croatia on Wednesday returned a Slovene espionage van seized on its territory in 1998. The green Volkswagen van of the Slovene intelligence service, which the Croatian government decided to give back to Slovenia, arrived at Otocec na Krki on Wednesday afternoon, a reporter for Hina said. The Croatian and Slovene Prime Ministers, Ivica Racan and Janez Drnovsek respectively, met today at Otocec na Krki to discuss the resolution of open issues, including the sea border, the nuclear power plant Krsko and the debt of the Ljubljanska Banka to Croatian depositors. "We wanted to make a gesture of goodwill," Racan said before the start of the talks announcing the return of the espionage van. "We wanted to come here in the van but it seems it was easier for the van to leave Slovenia than to return here," he said, alluding to the administrative procedure on the border. In January 1998, the Croatian police intercepted a Slovene espionage van on the Croatian territory at Dubrava Krizovljanska, with two members of the Slovene intelligence in it. The espionage scandal shook the then coalition government headed by Drnovsek as well as relations between the two countries. Tit Turnsek, the Slovene defence minister at the time, had to leave the political scene as a scapegoat in the scandal. The value of the van and espionage equipment has been estimated at half a million German marks. (hina) rml