ANNUAL PROFIT OF DM 500 MILLION FOR ORGANISED CRIME IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Aug 15 (Hina) - Organised crime earns annually at least 500 million German marks in the area of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This hefty profit for persons involved in organised crime is primarily possible owing to the fact that the country's frontier is still not efficiently controlled, United Nations mission's head in Bosnia, Jacques Paul Klein said on Wednesday's ceremony marking the start of a campaign aimed at the strengthening of the position and role of the state border units (DGS). Trans-border organised crime has to date extremely successfully exploited a lack of order in this country using Bosnia's territory as a transit route for the drugs and arms smuggling and traffic in humans, the American diplomat warned. According to our estimates, criminal nets actually plunder about DM 500 million from Bosnia every year, Klein added. He said the consequences of organised crime could be felt not only in the collection of lower means in a state budget but also in the general state of affairs among the population. According to some analyses conducted by UN experts, at least 30 percent of teenage Bosnians at age between 14 and 18 takes at least once some drug and this reflects the fact that Bosnia is becoming an important narcotics market. Bosnia's border units service was established some 14 months ago and so far it has assumed supervision of about 70 percent of the border-line with Croatia and Yugoslavia. The service's head Tomislav Mihalj complained that some 1,100 troops so far employed in this service, had insufficient transport and communication equipment. Despite the existing difficulties, Bosnia's state budget has received five more million German marks thanks to the border officers' work. As of October, even better results can be expected when the service gets the necessary equipment from the UN mission. Very soon the DGS will take over the control over the entire border line and employ a total of planned 2,800 workers. (hina) ms