On October 17, two RS Customs Officials sought to collect road taxes from drivers of two Slovenian trucks at the Brcko Bridge in violation of a Supervisory dated August 30, 1997. Both officials were detained briefly at Camp McGovern and then released to the custody of their supervisor.
The Order prohibits the collection of road tax and declares any site where the collection of such tax is attempted an illegal checkpoint. IPTF monitors at the bridge sought SFOR assistance to dismantle the checkpoint. SFOR soldiers, in response, escorted the Customs officials off the bridge and took them to Camp McGovern to confirm their identities.
The incident was initiated when IPTF monitors at the Brcko bridge learned that the Customs officers had allegedly requested that each driver pay a road tax of 300 Marks. When the Customs officials refused to comply with the IPTF request that the drivers’ passports and drivers licenses be returned to them and that they be permitted to proceed, the IPTF monitors declared the Brcko bridge an illegal checkpoint in accordance with the Supervisory Order.