Police officers from the RS Ministry of Interior and Brčko District join border police on the eastern border

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Director of the Border Police of BiH Zoran Galić, Deputy Director Fahrudin Halać and Assistant Director for Organization and Operations Slobodan Krstić today at the Headquarters in Sarajevo met with the heads of basic units and units of the Border Police under whose jurisdiction are the areas with the greatest migrant pressure from the direction of Serbia and Montenegro.

Discussed was the current situation of the constant influx of migrants in the areas under the jurisdiction of the field offices of GPBiH: East with headquarters in Višegrad, Northeast with headquarters in Bijeljina and South with headquarters in Čapljina, which requires even more effective enhanced measures that have been implemented at the border since October 2017.

In accordance with the conclusions of the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Operational Staff for Migration Issues in BiH, this means that police officers of the Border Police of BiH will take all necessary legal measures to prevent the entry of migrants from the direction of Serbia and Montenegro into BiH. The meeting was also held with the aim of agreeing on new modalities for preventing illegal entries.

Director Zoran Galić emphasized that he requires greater flexibility from teams in the field, due to the fact that migrants are finding new routes in an increasingly shorter period of time: forest and difficult-to-pass paths, mountainous areas, and even the river. He added that he is aware that the nine-month implementation of enhanced measures, with a significant personnel shortage, has almost exhausted the human and material-technical capacities of this police agency, but that the situation with the increased number of migrants is not calming down, which is why the maximum use of all available resources continues.

At the meeting, it was concluded that in the previous period, the largest percentage of migrants were deterred or detected on the eastern part of the border, which is why police officers from the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH and the State Agency for Investigations and Protection of BiH joined the members of GPBiH.

It was announced that from June 20, 2018, the supervision of the border strip in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina under the jurisdiction and in cooperation with members of GPBiH will also be carried out by police officers of the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska and the Police of Brčko District of BiH. Zoran Galić added that he insists on better organization and coordination in the field, especially with colleagues from local police administrations and stations.

In addition to the above, he concluded that he expects from the chief inspectors, heads of field offices, full responsibility for the state of illegal migration in the area under the jurisdiction of their organizational unit and maximum engagement in order to prevent this phenomenon.

The meeting was attended by the heads of: the Director's Cabinet, Radiša Samardžija; the Operations Administration, Predrag Radojčić; the Central Investigation Office, Semir Pašanbegović; the Administration for Administration, Mustafa Ovčina; the Office for Professional Standards and Internal Control, Vladimir Popović; the Field Office South, Robert Perić; and the Field Office East, Nermin Mrkaljević. In addition to the aforementioned, the Assistant Chief of the Field Office Northeast, Drago Zovko, and the commanders of border police units: Višegrad - Zoran Stupić, Zvornik - Mirel Imamović, Trebinje – Aleksandar Krsmanović, Hum -Fuad Đozo  and Bijeljina - Jovan Raić also attended.