prijava
BANJA LUKA, August 17 (FENA) - Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Mektić said today that the number of migrants is significantly decreasing and that they are leaving the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He held a press conference in Banja Luka today and explained that BiH can be a country of transit but not the ultimate destination for migrants.
“We have not yet approved a single asylum, regardless of the fact that there have been requests, because we treat them as economic migrants and as such they cannot be granted an asylum,” said Mektić.
He added that the number of migrants in BiH has significantly decreased and that there are currently less than 2,500 of them in the country.
“We made a decision and designated three reception centers in the Una-Sana Canton area, these are Bihać, Kladuša and Cazin, and the capacities are already being filled,” Mektić pointed out.
He added that the countries in the region have a far greater number of migrants than BiH. There are around 8,000 in Serbia, over 2,500 in Montenegro, and he believes that Croatia did not provide accurate data when it stated that there are 2,500 of them in that country, because all those who exited BiH went to Croatia.
“We cannot prevent their transit, because this is a global problem. We will be an integral part of the European solution,” said Mektić.
He also said that he has information that several thousand migrants in Loznica in Serbia are trying to cross into BiH, and that this is why the presence of the police at the border has been increased.
Commenting on the possibility of deploying members of the FBiH police on the state border that is administratively on the territory of the RS entity, Mektić said that he did not know whether they would be deployed, and if this is the case, they would be subordinated to the BiH Border Police and that they would not be in collision with the RS MoI competences.
Regarding the migrants in Bijeljina, he said that they are waiting for registration there, and that the immigration center in that city will also be working on weekends to provide assistance to Bijeljina.
“We have information that there are people suspected of belonging to radical or serious criminal groups. I am surprised with the number of drug users, these are serious problems because these persons get into severe abstinence crises and we have a lot of problems. In this case, we take them to the Immigration Center in East Sarajevo and they are under surveillance, without the possibility of leaving the center,” explained Mektić.
He added that up to now 40 people have been arrested for smuggling of migrants and were handed over to the competent prosecutor's offices for further processing.
“Huge amounts of money are in question and I express objections to the EU because it has not done enough through EUROPOL and FRONTEX to prevent this type of organized crime on this route” said Mektić.
He denied allegations by some media that there is a secret list of people from Russia who are banned from entering BiH.
(FENA) S. R.
