ZAGREB, November 27, 2019 - The police on Wednesday began arresting members of two criminal organisations who, according to unofficial sources, had been involved in collecting data and making false documents for criminal clans in Serbia and Montenegro.

The police have not released any official details as yet. A spokeswoman at the Interior Ministry (MUP), Marina Mandić, confirmed to Hina that police raids began on Wednesday morning and that some of the arrested were police employees.

The raids were conducted throughout Croatia but were focused on Zagreb and Karlovac.

According to unofficial sources, those arrested are suspected of collecting data and making documents like ID cards, travel documents and driver licences for criminals from Serbia and Montenegro.

About thirty people were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday and now their homes, workplaces and vehicles are being searched.

The USKOK anti-corruption office is expected to release an official statement since the case concerns organised crime rings.

Media reports note that documents were made for criminals who belong to the Zemun clan in Serbia and the Škaljarci and Kavčani clans in Montenegro.

The Jutranji List daily notes that these groups are connected to several mafia-style assassinations on several continents.

The daily adds that the suspected police employees collected from the information system data on Croatian citizens that were then used to create false Croatian documents.

More crime news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, November 26, 2019 - Croatia's border police on Tuesday received 17 vehicles with thermal imaging cameras for border surveillance and this highly sophisticated equipment can cover distances of up to five kilometres.

During a ceremony in Zagreb to receive the equipment, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said that the equipment was produced by the Croatian company Ericsson Nikola Tesla and a few other local companies.

This innovative Croatian solution has already been commended by the European Commission, the minister said adding that he hopes that some other countries will express interest in purchasing this equipment.

These self-sufficient systems are placed on vehicle trailers and can stay in the field for six months because they can receive different electrical charging sources, including solar panels and batteries as well as other models of electricity generation.

The minister said that this 47-million-kuna project, which is co-funded by the European Union, will make tthe police more efficient in protecting the border.

Border police director Zoran Ničeno said that the border police directorate and the manufacturers of this equipment had cooperated in designing the border surveillance equipment.

Another nine vehicles with these systems will soon be delivered to the police so that it can cover the external border at all dominant points, said Ničeno.

In the first ten months of 2019, Croatian law enforcement forces caught 800 migrant traffickers, he said.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 - A closing firefighting and anti-pollution exercise was held at sea off the northern Adriatic city of Pula on Friday, with 27 firemen - nine each from Istria, the Slovene port town of Koper and the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia - participating.

Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović attended the exercise, which was conducted after a two-year training of a joint unit, the first such unit in Europe, consisting of firefighters from three countries and formed to protect the common sea as part of the EU project "North Adriatic Maritime Incident Response Group - NAMIRG".

"All modern security challenges are of a cross-border nature, which means that they require a cross-border response. To be successful in that, we must exercise and today's exercise is a result of two years of effort invested by firemen and members of the Croatian Army, police, the Croatian Red Cross and their partners from Slovenia and Italy," said Božinović.

He said that with the exercise Croatia had earned a certificate for putting out fires at sea.

"In recent years we have had serious accidents at sea. Croatia now has a new capability and that is the biggest value of this exercise, with efficient interaction between the Coast Guard and the Croatian Air Force to the emergency medical service and the Red Cross. The incumbent government insists on the integration of capabilities so that we can respond to any situation," Božinović said, adding that Croatia had excellent staff and was well equipped for situations such as the one demonstrated during the exercise.

More news about firefighting in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, November 18, 2019 - An on-site investigation on Tuhobić mountain, where a police officer shot a migrant who is in a critical condition, has been completed and "items of interest for further investigation have been recovered," Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Police said on Monday.

They added in a press release that they could not say more for the time being given the confidentiality of the investigation and a pending report by experts of the Police Directorate.

In coordination with the county prosecutor's office, the police are continuing the investigation to establish all the relevant facts concerning the shooting of the illegal migrant and the light injuries sustained by a police officer, the press release said.

The police recalled that a group of 17 foreign citizens, including the shot migrant, illegally entered Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since none have said they intend to apply for international protection, the process of their readmission to BiH has been started.

The Rijeka University Hospital said the gravely wounded migrant was on a respirator and that his condition remained critical.

He sustained serious gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen during a police operation on Saturday in inaccessible terrain on Tuhobić mountain in the Gorski Kotar region.

Citing unofficial sources, the media have reported that the wounded migrant was carried to a car several kilometres away by the officer who should shot him and another officer. The officer allegedly wanted to shoot in the air so that other officers could come to his assistance however he tripped and fell, shooting the migrant.

The Centre for Peace Studies (CMS) said on Monday it was unacceptable that police shot a migrant in the Gorski Kotar mountainous region, while the police union said the migrant was wounded when a gun accidentally went off and that his life was saved because the officer in question acted in line with the highest principles.

According to media reports, the man underwent urgent surgery due to a gunshot wound in the chest and abdomen area and Rijeka University Hospital doctors are fighting for his life. The use of firearms against refugees and migrants is becoming the rule, and the Interior Ministry and Minister Davor Božinović are doing their best to justify such conduct instead of preventing it, the CMS said in a press release.

The unofficial police information, although the investigation's findings have not been disclosed, is unconvincing and even more worrying are Božinović's statements justifying the use of firearms by police towards migrants, this nongovernmental organisation said, adding that this was not the first time that shots were fired at groups of migrants and refugees.

The SPH police union applauded the activity of all police officers protecting the state border in a difficult time when, it said, the number of people trying to illegally enter Croatia is on the rise.

Conscientious and professional police activity is necessary to maintain the state's integrity and citizens' security as well as to meet all the commitments Croatia undertook by joining the EU and other international agreements and associations, SPH president Dubravko Jagić said in a press release.

As for the shooting of the migrant in Gorski Kotar, he said all public and official information so far indicated that he was shot when the gun of one of the police officers who came across a group of illegal migrants accidentally went off.

Unfortunately, the wounds were grave and the person is still in serious condition, but his life was saved only because the officer whose gun accidentally went off acted in line with all the highest principles of the police profession and humanity, carrying the migrant, together with a colleague, over three kilometres of inaccessible terrain to a place which an ambulance could reach, Jagić said.

The dedicated work of the police to save the life of a migrant is a deeply humane act, the union concluded.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, November 17, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday night that the migrant who was injured in the afternoon as police were preventing illegal migration in the Gorski Kotar area sustained a serious injury and that he was undergoing surgery in a Rijeka hospital.

Around 5 p.m., the police were protecting the state border, i.e. preventing a group of illegal migrants from crossing Croatia near Tuhobić, who were most likely trying to reach Slovenia, and one migrant was injured in the process, Božinović told reporters.

According to available information, the injury was probably caused by a firearm. The minister said the county prosecutor's office would investigate and that a Police Directorate team would also inspect the matter.

He talked with the doctors treating the injured migrant and said the injury was serious and that he was being operated on.

Asked if the migrants were armed, Božinović said he could not say at the moment due to the investigation to be carried out on Monday.

The other migrants, about 15 of them, are in a police station, he said.

The migrant wounded during a police operation in the Gorski Kotar region on Saturday has undergone surgery but his condition is critical, so he is still in intensive care, the Rijeka University Hospital said on Sunday.

The patient underwent surgery for a gunshot wound in the torso and abdominal area, the hospital said.

A foreign citizen suspected of staying in Croatia illegally was injured on Saturday afternoon on inaccessible terrain in the Gorski Kotar mountainous region during an operation by police who work on the prevention of illegal migration, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Police said last night.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 29, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Davor Božinović said on Monday evening that offences such as those committed by senior police officials Josip Ćelić and Darko Car could not be tolerated and that the consequences were clear.

"Since the very first day when we assumed responsibility for this system, we said that we would always stand behind police officers and the job they performed in line with the law... These offences cannot be tolerated and the consequences are clear," Božinović said at a news conference he held after it was reported that a deputy police director and two more police officials resigned after traffic offence scandals.

Deputy Police Director Josip Ćelić, who recently made headlines after it was reported that he drove at 166 km/h on a road where the speed limit was 50 km/h, tendered his resignation as soon as an expert police team was sent to the Zadar County Police Department in whose area this traffic offence was committed seven months ago.

The Interior Ministry said on Monday afternoon that apart from Ćelić, Darko Car, the head of the Krapina-Zagorje County Police Department, resigned due to a similar traffic offence which he committed in the area within the jurisdiction of the Zadar County Police Department. Apart from these two officials, the head of the Zadar traffic police, Anton Dražina, also stepped down after an inspection team was sent to Zadar at the proposal of chief police director Nikola Milina.

Commenting on the latest developments and inspection findings, Minister Božinović said that "this is the way we run the system. I have said on several occasions that the Interior Ministry is a system that consistently and swiftly responds to irregularities in its ranks."

"They (those officials) tendered their resignations and that's what we expected of them to do," said Božinović.

More news about the Interior Ministry can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 27, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday that Croatia's admission to the Schengen Area should be one of the priorities for Slovenia and the European Union, and that those who did not think that Croatia was prepared for the Schengen passport-free area "make not only highly politicised comments but also show their ignorance."

In the Slovenian political scene, too, there are those who say that Croatia's entry into the Schengen Area is also in the strategic interest of Slovenia, Božinović said in an interview with the Croatian Radio on Saturday morning.

"Being exposed to the growing migrant pressure, Croatia has met the conditions for the entry in a situation in which not any member of the Schengen has been so far. Croatia has fulfilled 270 recommendations assessed by European Commission experts and experts from the Schengen area, the minister said.

Asked whether Slovenia could block Croatia's Schengen bid and whether Ljubljana could lobby for this blockade among other EU member-states, Božinović said that it was in the EU's strategic interest to support Croatia.

In this context he recalled that Bavaria's Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrman, who visited Zagreb this past Thursday, thanked the Croatian police for protecting the European border.

On 22 October the European Commission assessed that Croatia was prepared for the entry into the Schengen area.

On that occasion, President Jean-Claude Juncker was quoted as saying that he commends Croatia "for its efforts and perseverance to meet all the necessary conditions to join Schengen. It is only through being united and standing together that we can ensure a stronger Schengen area. Sharing the achievement of Schengen must be our common objective. This is why I trust that Member States will take the right steps for Croatia to become a full Schengen member soon," Juncker said.

More news about the Schengen area can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - In the first two months since the entry into force of a stricter law on road safety, from early August to the end of September, police penalised 1,347 persons who committed the most serious traffic offences which carry a fine of between 10,000 and 20,000 kuna or a prison term of up to 60 days.

Of the 1,347 traffic offenders, close to 40% or 537 were arrested, the Ministry of the Interior said.

The ministry says that the most frequent traffic offences were driving under the influence of alcohol, with 528 cases of drivers who had more than 1.5 of blood alcohol content, 465 offences were about driving prior to obtaining a driver's licence, 216 were cases of driving while under a driving ban, and 118 cases referred to the refusal to have one's blood and urine sample taken.

In 1,078 cases police suggested that the relevant court impose a fine, while in 356 cases (more than 30%) they proposed a prison sentence. Courts ordered imprisonment for 100 offenders and did not order imprisonment for 111 offenders while other proceedings are still underway, the ministry said.

The maximum prison term of 30 to 60 days was imposed in cases when a driver had more than 1.5 per mille of blood alcohol content, drove before taking a driver's exam or drove while under a driving ban. The highest fine upheld by a court amounted to 30,500 kuna (4,120 euro).

The ministry says that the impact of the stricter penalties is evident in the number of road fatalities - in the first nine months of 2019, 35 fewer people were killed in road accidents than in the same period of last year.

In the first nine months of 2019, the number of road fatalities was 209 while in 2018 the number stood at 244.

The ministry notes that despite the harsher penalties, some drivers continue to commit grave traffic offences, which is why in the coming period police will continue with increased traffic monitoring, notably on weekends.

More traffic news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 6, 2019 - Violence against elderly people is an increasing problem in Croatia as more cases of neglect and physical, mental and economic abuse of senior citizens are reported.

People above the age of 65 are frequently attacked by unknown persons, as well as by their family members, primarily for property-related reasons. A total of 6,316 crimes against property targeting persons aged 60 and over were recorded last year, a conference in the southern coastal city of Split was told recently.

People above the age of 60 were most often the targets of aggravated theft (3,294), theft (2,277), fraud (447), property damage (141), robbery (68) and computer fraud (419). Also reported were 239 crimes against life and limb, including 99 cases of grievous bodily harm and 14 cases of murder, 733 crimes against personal freedom, including 710 cases of threat, and 108 crimes against marriage, family and children.

High Misdemeanours Court judge Branka Žigante Živković drew attention to specific types of economic violence against the elderly which are not listed in the law, including agreements on life-long support. She said that such agreements often trigger violence against senior citizens by their family, citing a case where an elderly person was subjected to extreme forms of violence by their family so the person in their care would die as soon as possible and the family would get the land and other property bequeathed to them under the agreement.

Petar Škrmeta of the Social Welfare Centre in Split said that society quickly responds in cases of violence against children, but there is still not enough public awareness of violence against the elderly.

Škrmeta said that the number of cases of violence against the elderly in Split was increasing by ten percent from year to year. "We need to raise awareness of domestic violence and neglect of elderly persons; we need to sensitise the public. This should be discussed and dealt with through team work and cooperation," he stressed.

The head of the Crime Prevention Division at the Split-Dalmatia County Police Department, Paško Ugrina, said that the matter required a systematic approach and stressed the need for cooperation between the police and other institutions.

More news about crime in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 2, 2019 - A delegation of the Ukraine Police Patrol Academy in Kiev is conducting a visit this week to Croatia's Police Academy where they will exchange experience on police training, specialist courses and higher education.

The Ministry of the Interior (MUP) underscored that the topic of the first working meeting was cooperation in the area of education, specialist courses and training, with special emphasis on international cooperation as well as cooperation in scientific research.

"As representatives of a young academy founded in January 2018, the guests had a lot of questions considering that their duty is to provide training for police, and they were particularly interested in all details related to basic training and the daily routine of students at the Academy," MUP underscored.

The ministry added that it would inform its guests of the organisation, scope of activities and curriculum of the Police Academy as well as the process of student selection and recruiting.

The ministry will inform the visiting delegation of the possibilities of e-learning as well as of new working processes related to support for sport.

The Ukrainian guests will also be acquainted with specific training for border police.

The Ukrainian delegation has also visited the MUP's police dog training centre, the ministry said.

More news about relations between Croatia and Ukraine can be found in the Politics section.