Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Friday (February 12th) said that a successful fight against organised crime requires close and lasting co-operation between police across the region. Opening the fourth meeting of interior ministers from the six former Yugoslav republics in Zagreb, Kosor said that without joint efforts against organised crime and corruption there would be no security and peace in the region. "The stronger the bridges we build between each other, the weaker the ties between criminal groups become," the Croatian prime minister said.

 

The conference called "Balkan Route -- yesterday, today, tomorrow" was attended by Croat Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko, Serbia's Ivica Dacic, Montenegro's Ivan Brajovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) Security Minister Sadik Ahmetovic, Slovenian State Secretary Goran Klemencic and the director of the Macedonian police Ljupco Todorovski. The officials signed a declaration pledging to increase collaboration, including exchange of experience and information, as well as lectures on drug smuggling. They also pledged to cut the notorious Balkan drug route to Western Europe.

 

"The most relevant global security sources say that 80% of heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan come to Western Europe through the Balkans," Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told Reuters. "On top of heroin, a growing number of people from our region are engaged in illegal trade of cocaine from Latin America. We cannot combat that successfully without regional co-operation," he added