NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN CROATIA CLIMBS BY 40 PERCENT

ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina) - The number of illegal immigrants in Croatia rose by 40 percent this year as against 1999. From the beginning of 2000 to the end of August about 11,500 persons were caught crossing into Croatia illegally, said the Croatian Interior Ministry's foreigners and migrations department head, Bozena Katanec. Some of them were immediately deported and some were released on condition that they leave Croatia on their own. There are now 80 persons, caught as illegal immigrants, at a reception camp for foreigners in Jezevo, outside Zagreb. According to figures released by the Interior Ministry, the highest number of illegal immigrants are Romanians (3,640 of them have entered Croatia without valid papers). They are followed by Turks (2,500), Iranians (2,470) and the Chinese (527) and Yugoslav citizens, i.e. Kosovo Albanians (600). In compliance with an agreement on re-admission, which Zagreb and Sarajevo recently signed, Croatia has so far returned 800 illegal immigrants and this has facilitated efforts which Croatia, that is a transit country for foreigners on their way toward west European states, is making in the struggle against the smuggling of human beings, Bozena Katanec told Hina. Prior to the conclusion of the agreement, Croatia was forced to return illegal immigrants, who came via Bosnia, to their homelands. Croatia is the first country to have signed such treaty with Bosnia, but Zagreb has to date signed similar deals with 14 European countries. In the last 12 months the national structure, number and age of immigrants changed. This year Croatia has for the first time registered Bangladeshis. One hundred and sixty (160) Bangladeshis were caught illegally entering Croatia. The number of the Chinese is still high. According to data possessed by western countries' police, the number of illegal immigrants coming via former Yugoslav republics to the West has climbed by 30 percent, Katanec added. Many of them use the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro) and Bosnia-Herzegovina as transit countries as they do not need to have entry visas to travel there. That's why those are the first free zones where immigrants from the East are already in Europe. Iranians, Turks and emigrants from Near East countries pay commercial flights from Istanbul to Sarajevo and from there they use overland routes via Croatia to reach the West. The Chinese usually fly from Beijing or Moscow to Belgrade and then use overland routes via either Croatia or Hungary towards the West. Analysts in western countries estimate that the profit from the smuggling of human beings will soon achieve the level of profit from arms or drug smuggling. Almost all international institutions and police in western European countries regard this problem as the present-day danger of primary importance. According to some estimates, Italian Mafia or Chinese Triads and other groups connected with organised crime earn even 17 billion dollars annually from the slave trade and smuggling of illegal immigrants. A Chinese, who wants to immigrate into the West, pays between 20 and 30 thousand US dollars to 'the organiser of the trip'. For instance, the illegal transit from Bosnia via Croatia to Slovenia costs from 1,000 to 2,500 German marks per passenger. The price depends on the sex and age of the immigrant, Katanec explained. Speaking of the immigrants caught in Croatia, Katanec has said that the Chinese are mainly old about 20 years and present the youngest population. Groups from Iran and Turkey are mostly families. Women make up some 10 percent in those groups. Illegal immigrants are transported in groups from five to 30 people. The ideal group for transit comprises between 11 and 15 persons as they can be transported in a van, she said. Those immigrants try to reach the West dreaming of a better life there. Unfortunately, dreams do not come true for most of them. Illegal immigrants are forced to do the hardest physical jobs for years and are treated as slaves by the gang that has organised their arrival. Some women are forced by pimps to prostitute themselves. Three months ago Croatian police apprehended two groups of Bangladeshis and there were children aged 14 and 15 among them. Katanec fears that the children should have been used for prostitution in the West. One of worrying facts is that many people do not see the smuggling of human beings as a terrible crime. They still have harsher attitude towards the traffic in illicit drugs than the trafficking of illegal immigrants, she added. Under the Croatian penal code, the organiser of a chain of smugglers of human beings can be sentenced to prison from six months to five years, and the imprisonment up to one year or a fine is envisaged for those who transfer illegal immigrants. From the beginning of 2000 to the end of August, Croatian police preferred charges against 222 persons for crimes related to the smuggling of people. Those 222 persons are Croatian, Slovene or Bosnian nationals. Last year the charges were pressed against 303 persons in this field. Last year, the care for and deportation of illegal immigrants cost Croatia 1.8 million kuna (over $214,000) from budgetary means. This year, for instance, 14,000 dollars were spent just for the return of 30 Chinese by air, Katanec said. The costs for the accommodation of one illegal immigrant in the Jezevo centre are some 130 kuna (32.5 German marks) per day. This doe not include costs for deportation, health care and the issuance of necessary travel papers. (hina) ms