SITUATION IN PAKRAC AREA CALM AND SAFE

PAKRAC, May 29 (Hina) - The situation in the Pakrac area of Western Slavonia was completely calm and safe, police chief Nikola Ivkanec told a town council session today. About 1,500 people, mainly Serbs, lived in the recently liberated region, of whom 1,450 had applied for Croatian citezenship and 880 had been granted it, Ivkanec said, quoting data collected by May 26. Since the Croatian police and military action at the beginning of this month, 2,080 people had left in UN convoys for Bosnia- Herzegovina, he said, adding that the process was still going on. Croatian police turned over 182 war crimes suspects to judicial authorities, Ivkanec said, adding that the exhumation of several grave sits would begin soon. Ivkanec told council members that the crime rate was on the rise but that police made efforts to prevent it. "More than 50 cars have been returned to their owners as well as other valuables," he stressed. Ivkanec said that Croatian police would protect abandoned property in the newly-liberated area and that it would hand it over to civilian authorities. (hina) vm 292045 MET may 95