U.N. POLICE INVESTIGATING CASE OF FOUR SERB WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS

SARAJEVO, Oct 31 (Hina) - International police commissioner Peter Fitzgerald said in Sarajevo on Thursday that he had ordered an inquiery into allegations that four Bosnian Serbs indicted by the Hague-based war crimes tribunal were members of the local police in the northwestern Bosnian towns of Prijedor and Omarska. The four men - Mladen Radic, Zeljko Meakic, Miroslav Kvocka and Nedeljko Timarac - were among the most wanted persons by the International Criminal Tribunal on suspicion of participating in the torture and killing of Moslem and Croat prisoners in the notorious Omarska camp in 1992. If the investigation shows that the four men are holding positions on the Prijedor police force they will be immediately relieved of police duties and extradited to The Hague, Fitzgerald said. The Tribunal issued a statement on Wednesday calling for the immediate arrest of the four suspects. Fitzgerald said that he had sent a letter to Bosnian Serb Interior Minister Dragan Kijac demanding that he identify the suspects. Should Kijac ignore the request, Fitzgerald would recommend that IFOR take necessary measures. Fitzgerald warned Kijac that under the Dayton peace agreement local police were responsible for arresting war crimes suspects. Fitzgerald said that he had been personally informed about the case two days ago although international police in Prijedor had sent a report to their regional headquarters in Banja Luka on July 12 saying that war crimes suspects were serving on the local Serb police force. Fitzgerald said that it was unclear why the report had not been sent to Sarajevo. This was a mistake in the UN system and the international police task force, he added. The international police task force was prompted into action by foreign media reports that the four Serbs were living freely and working in Prijedor. (hina) vm jn 311937 MET oct 96