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Bucharest, May 17, 2013 - A delegation from the Turkish Police College from Ankara, headed by Mr. Director Sami Korkmaz, paid today an official visit to the SELEC Headquarters, being welcomed by Mr. Gürbüz Bahadir, Director General.
During the visit, the delegation was briefed about the activities of the Center as well as the regional police cooperation in the region in general.
Bucharest, May 16, 2013 - A group of 25 judges and prosecutors from Republic of Turkey paid a working visit to SELEC premises, being welcomed by Mr. Gürbüz Bahadir, Director General, and Mrs. Snejana Maleeva, Director for Legal and Internal Affairs.
The participants were briefed about SELEC and SEEPAG, their missions, goals and functioning, also providing concrete examples of successful joint operations conducted within SELEC. It was highlighted that the cooperation between the law enforcement authorities and prosecutors represents an important mechanism for combating trans-border organized criminality, to the benefit of the Member States.
Bucharest, May 13, 2013 – A delegation from Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina - headed by Mr. Radislav Jovicic, Minister of Internal Affairs, and Mr. Dusko Kovacevic, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bucharest, paid an official visit to the SELEC Headquarters, being hosted by Mr. Gürbüz Bahadir, Director General, and Mr. Cristian Duta, Director for Operations.The delegation was briefed about the activities of the Center and practiced ways of police cooperation in the region.
OPERATION “SOUTH” – a successful operation carried out with the support of SELEC
Investigators recorded and provided proofs for the members of the organized crime group that committed 21 crimes during period of using special investigative measures (from 15.01.2013 to 14.05.2013). During mentioned period of time, the members of the organized crime group smuggled 90 people who paying them between 400 and 600 euro per person for every passing the border (for entering in and for exit from Bosnia and Herzegovina). They used the boats for illegally entering Bosnia and Herzegovina over river Drina (border with Republic of Serbia) and then organized illegal passing of the land border with Republic of Croatia. On 14th of May 2013, the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Police of Republic of Croatia simultaneously finished the operation, which succeeded with the arrest of 15 persons and the seizure of 35 mobile phone devices with SIM cards in them, 30 SIM cards separately from the phones, 1 boat engine, a lot of ammunition, as well as a lot of documentation that will be used as proofs during the trial. * This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and ICJ Advisory opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. |
25 kg heroin seized and 6 offenders arrested in the frame of SELEC Joint investigation “TIRANA”
Operation “TIRANA” started at the end of February 2013 as SELEC Joint Investigation between Romanian and Bulgarian Law Enforcement authorities in close cooperation with Germany. The Organized Crime Group (OCG), coordinated by Albanian citizens was involved in transborder heroin trafficking along the Balkan route destined to some Western European countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and France. The OGC created also a criminal cell in Targu Jiu/ Romania, who was responsible for recruiting Romanian citizens as couriers. |
Successful Operation in the Field of Drug Trafficking
 The Operation "Walker" was simultaneously realized on 12th of April 2013 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia, Montenegro and Republic of Serbia. This joint operation was coordinated by SELEC and jointly supported by SELEC and EU IPA 2010 Programme. During the process, two operational meetings were conducted with the participation of case prosecutors and investigation officers.
The operation succeeded with the arrest of 48 persons (including the organizers of OCG) in the above mentioned countries, alongside the seizure of 376.1 kg of marijuana skunk, 0.523 kg of heroin, 20 kg of explosives and bigger quantity of weapons and ammunition. The criminal group organized drug trafficking to Western Europe through two main routes in the region. The total value of the seized drugs is estimated to be approximately 730,000 euro. At the press conference held in Trebinje/ Bosnia and Herzegovina, SELEC was represented by Mr. Slaven Rosić, Bosnia and Herzegovina´s Police Liaison Officer. Mr. Rosić emphasized the role of SELEC in organization and running the Operation “Walker”, explaining how SELEC helps its Member States in combating all kinds of transnational criminality. Mr. Cristian Duta, SELEC Director for Operations, stated: "This has become one of the successful operations coordinated under SELEC auspices. Information exchange was facilitated through SELEC channels and two operational meetings between the involved investigators from the participating countries were supported by SELEC during this operation. In order to better face the challenges in the law enforcement area, SELEC’s main priority is to support the Member States’ agencies in their coordination of trans-border cases for consolidating safety and security in the region" . |
Bosnia and Herzegovina Border Police in cooperation with Croatian Police conducted international operation with code name “South”. The operation was carried out during 2013 with goal to discover and process organized criminal group that were smuggling illegal immigrants from Kosovo* and Republic of Turkey through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Croatia to Republic of Slovenia and further to Western European countries. From the very beginning the operation was developed with support of SELEC - information exchange through SELEC channels and organization of two operational meetings. 
On 20th - 21st of April 2013, in the frame of Operation “TIRANA”, the Romanian Directorate for Countering Organized Criminality, seized 50 packages totaling to 25 kg heroin concealed in the construction of a Volkswagen Transporter passenger van. Total of 6 offenders (3 Albanian & 3 Romanian nationals) were arrested.
