CRO & SLOVENE POLICE SEIZE 38KG OF HEROIN

( Editorial: --> 1878 ) ZAGREB, Aug 5 (Hina) - A joint operation of Slovene and Croatian police recently broke an organised drug smuggling chain leading from Bosnia, via Croatia and Slovenia, to western Europe. On August 1, Croatian police confiscated 38kg of heroin in a car, assistant crime police minister Zeljko Sacic told reporters in Zagreb on Wednesday. According to Marijan Pogacnik, Slovene police deputy managing director and head of the crime police administration, the Slovene police was informed a month ago that criminal circles in Slovenia were planning to import heroin from Bosnia. Slovene policemen appealed to Croatian colleagues to stop a car which according to their sources was supposed to carry the drugs and whose description they had. The joint police operation was simultaneously taking place in Slovenia and Croatia. The head of the smuggling chain, Mateuz J. aged 27, and his assistant Rebecca R. aged 23 were arrested in the Slovene capital Ljubljana on August 2. The Slovene police searched their houses and found evidence towards their involvement in drug smuggling. A stolen car and a rifle were also found. An investigating judge sentenced Mateuz J. to detention, while Rebecca R. was let go. Mateuz J. had already spent two years in prison for drug abuse. The car with the drugs was stopped at a police point near Kalinovec in the evening of August 1, said Sacic. Forty little packages of 70 per cent pure heroin were found in the sides of the car. The wholesale price of the found quantity is DEM6 million, but be ten times higher on an open market. According to Sacic, the heroin was probably intended for the Netherlands or Spain. Its arrival in Sarajevo was according to the first reports ensured by Turkish citizens who are most probably members of the Kurdistan Labour Party (PKK). The driver of the car, Simon H. aged 28, had transported drugs several times, and had also been reported for thefts and organised car smuggling. (hina) ha 051600 MET aug 98