prijava
BANJA LUKA, February 27 (FENA) - The Police of Republika Srpska (RS) will continue to closely monitor the movement of migrants across the territory of this BiH entity, where 946 migrants have been registered since the beginning of this year, and their large inflow is yet expected, which can significantly destabilize the situation and public safety in RS and throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was concluded today at a meeting of the Coordinating Body for monitoring movement of migrants over the territory of RS.
Director of the police, Darko Ćulum, emphasized that the police will do everything in its power to protect personal safety and property of citizens.
“We do not allow migrants to move without police supervision. We want to protect personal and safety of property of our citizens. The problem is that migrants arrive in BiH, most of them on the Western Europe route, almost unimpeded, they come through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania ... while Croatia is increasing its control of its own border and further inwards the EU.
Most of the migrants want to leave BiH, but the Croatian police do not allow them to enter Croatia. There is a possibility that the forces of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) will be deployed to the outer section of BiH's border with Croatia, so that this border will be even tightly closed. If larger influx of migrants does happen, then the problem will escalate and greater migrant crisis is then expected here. The government and the RS Ministry of Interior warned about this,” added Ćulum.
He emphasized that currently, the BiH Armed Forces cannot be engaged in border protection, as 651 kilometers at the moment are being protected by the BiH Border Police, with the assistance of the Investigation and Protection Agency, the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies and the RS MoI, whose 35 members are currently deployed for this purpose.
“The border is very permeable at the moment and there are some 50 illegal crossings, where migrants enter with the help of smugglers or by themselves,” he warned.
Most of the migrants in RS, where there has been an increase in relation to the same period last year for about 80 percent, have been detected on the territory of in the police administrations of Banja Luka, Bosanska Gradiška, Prijedor and Bijeljina and all of them were handed over to the Foreigners Affairs Service of BiH or the Border Police.
Ćulum told reporters that most of them are economic migrants, coming from 30 countries. They have difficulties in determining their identity, since 90 percent of them have no documents.
"We are worried by the fact that among the migrants there are those who can be considered a security threat, five or six of them have been brought in connection with terrorism, and there are 26 persons in Una-Sana Canton who were members of various groups and organizations in Syria," he added.
Ćulum reminded that there are currently around 60,000 to 70,000 migrants in Greece, and about 300 of them enter the country each day. He also noted that there are estimates that the migrant crisis in BiH will escalate as weather conditions get more favorable.
(FENA) S. R.
