BiH police, Interior Ministry and State Border Service officials will step up cooperation with their counterparts in Serbia and Montenegro in order to make sure that the release of individuals from custody following the lifting of the State of Emergency in Serbia and Montenegro has no negative consequences for Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was one of the steps agreed at a summit on combating organised crime, chaired by the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, at the OHR on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Federation Interior Minister Mevludin Halilovic, RS Interior Minister Zoran Djeric, State Border Service Director Nijaz Spahic, BiH Security Minister Barisa Colak, SIPA Head Sredoje Novic, and EUPM Commissioner Sven Frederiksen.
The meeting focused on the possibility that individuals released from custody in Serbia may make their way into Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly if they have financial or family ties here. The following steps were agreed:
Actions within the next 24 hours
1) Contact counterparts (MUP, Ministry of Interior Security, border service) to obtain all information available regarding those apprehended and later released.
2) Offer to assist and cooperate in any way legally possible to prevent criminal activity in BiH or Serbia and Montenegro by those released.
Actions within the next 2-3 weeks
1) Operational agreements between the Serbian and BiH state prosecutors, and between the Serbian state prosecutor and the Entity chief prosecutors.
2) Signed agreements (Memoranda of Understanding) between Justice Ministers and/or Security Ministers and/or Entity Interior Ministers.
3) Separate signed agreements between the Serbian Interior Ministry and: SIPA, the Entity ministries of interior; the tax authorities; and the SBS.
“We do not believe that the end of the State of Emergency in Serbia is going to create a crisis in BiH,” the High Representative said after the meeting. “But we are nonetheless acting with prudent speed to make sure that that doesn’t happen. What we do believe is that the scale of organised crime in the Balkans does represent a crisis – and the measures we have decided upon today are part of the long-term serious effort to tackle that crisis head on.”