ZAGREB, June 6 (Hina) - Since 1990, a total of 2,279 terrorist acts, committed mostly during the war, have been registered in Croatia. Criminal charges were pressed against 356 persons, most of whom were granted amnesty in line with
the Amnesty Act, Zagreb police director Ranko Ostojic said at a seminar "Protection Against Terrorism and Other Forms of Violence", in Zagreb on Thursday.
ZAGREB, June 6 (Hina) - Since 1990, a total of 2,279 terrorist acts,
committed mostly during the war, have been registered in Croatia.
Criminal charges were pressed against 356 persons, most of whom
were granted amnesty in line with the Amnesty Act, Zagreb police
director Ranko Ostojic said at a seminar "Protection Against
Terrorism and Other Forms of Violence", in Zagreb on Thursday. #L#
Ostojic said the police also recorded three international
terrorist attacks. Eight persons are suspected of committing those
acts, Ostojic said, without elaborating on the crimes.
The police director said the gravest terrorist act in said period
was the explosion of a car bomb in front of the Rijeka police station
in October 1995. The perpetrator was killed, two persons were
seriously injured and 25 sustained light injuries in the attack.
The Egyptian terrorist organisation "Al-gama's al-islamya"
claimed responsibility for the attack.
The police's greatest success in combating international terrorism
was the severing of a weapons smuggling chain in mid-2000. The
weapons were intended for the Irish Republican Army.
The head of the Zagreb police crime department, Robert Kralj, said
that Croatia was not faced with the direct threat of terrorism.
However, he does believe that caution is necessary as potential
crisis spots in the neighbourhood could flare up.
Along with politically-motivated terrorism, increasingly present
is terrorism in the function of crime, such as narco terrorism in
Columbia, Kralj said. He warned that it was not impossible for this
form of crime to appear in Croatia, which is on the so-called Balkan
route used for smuggling drugs and illegal immigrants from the
south-east Balkans and the Middle East to western Europe.
Speaking about violence, Kralj said that last year's crime rate in
Croatia was 1,728 criminal acts per 100,000 citizens, which, he
said, was far below the European average.
Between 1992 and 2001, the number of the gravest criminal acts,
including murders, decreased. With 2.3 murders per 100,000
citizens, Croatia has one of the lowest crime rates, Kralj said.
According to all relevant international standards, the security
situation in Croatia is at a high level, he added.
Police director Ostojic said that in late September Zagreb would
host an international symposium called "Terrorism and Security in
the 21st Century - South-East Europe and the World".
(hina) rml sb