CROATIAN AND BOSNIAN POLICE FORCES TACKLE TRAFFICKING IN HUMANS

BASKE OSTARIJE, Feb 7 (Hina) - Representatives of three Croatian county police departments, the international community and Bosnia's border police convened in the Croatian town of Baske Ostarije on Wednesday to address the prevention of illegal migrations. The number of migrants is constantly increasing and in the last four months alone, Croatia returned to Bosnia 5,474 people who illegally crossed the state border, said Dubravko Novak, head of the Lika- Senj County PD and host of the meeting. The most numerous among the illegal immigrants were citizens from Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, and China, as well as from another 27 countries. Petar Vasilj of the Croatian Interior Ministry said the ministry supported all efforts aimed at effectively preventing trafficking in people and goods. This can be done with state-of-the-art technology which requires international assistance, he added. A police adviser with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Thommy Anderberg, also supported cooperation in stamping out organised smuggling of people, pointing out more care should be given migrants who are the victims of those attempting to transport them across the border. Bosnia is the route 50,000 migrants cross every year heading for Europe, participants in the meeting said. (hina) ha