[ALBSA-Info] FBI-style police force for the Balkans

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

FBI-style police force for the Balkans
Law enforcement cooperation in Southeast Europe under U.S. supervision to 
fight organized crime

By Stavros Tzimas
Kathimerini

The countries of Southeastern Europe are moving toward the creation of a 
Balkan police force, along lines similar to EUROPOL, in order to combat 
transnational organized crime, which has been thriving since the collapse of 
Eastern bloc states.

The entire process is unfolding within the framework of the American 
initiative known as "Seci," which is under the supervision of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 
An Information Exchange Center already operates in Bucharest which will form 
the nucleus of law enforcement cooperation in Southeastern Europe.

First phase
In its first phase, the program provides for the exchange of information on 
criminal cases involving networks in two or more Balkan countries through the 
center in Bucharest, with the ultimate goal being joint police operations in 
cases where they are deemed necessary.
The initiative was hailed by all the countries in the region, receiving 
political approval from Balkan prime ministers in Bucharest last year. 

They regard cooperation in combating organized crime as imperative, as it 
tends to undermine the economic and social development of the region and 
hinder reconstruction.
In Greece, as in all other countries involved in the process, the initiative 
was ratified by Parliament. The program provides for the creation of 
additional branches of the central office in other Balkan capitals. 

Current conditions in the area make a compelling case for cooperation and 
joint law enforcement operations, as illegal activities have developed a 
multiethnic character and should be dealt with as such.

Criminal networks
Organized crime in countries like Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, the Former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Romania, Moldova, the Ukraine and 
others, has powerful organizations which in many cases have even coerced the 
upper echelons of governments, while their activities go beyond national 
borders.

The case of the plutonium discovered in Thessaloniki last Tuesday 
(authorities found 500 metal plates containing three grams of the highly 
radioactive elements plutonium and americium buried in a forest) is the 
latest evidence of cooperation among criminal networks from countries of the 
former Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Greece in the trafficking of nuclear 
material.

But when Greek law enforcement agencies had to conduct a joint investigation 
with the Bulgarian authorities into the case, they discovered that 
bureaucracy and other legal issues were hindering cooperation to such a 
degree that it was obstructing the exchange of valuable information.

Not for the first time, it was demonstrated that criminal organizations are 
way ahead of authorities in the area of cooperation and joint operations. The 
latter have yet to prove that they can conduct large-scale joint operations, 
as they are still struggling to open lines of communication with each other.

The countries of Southeastern Europe are infested with gangs and criminal 
networks not only from the former Soviet Union, but from Asia as well, which 
smuggle drugs, weapons, illegal immigrants, women and cigarettes to Western 
Europe. Clearly, unilateral action has small chances of success.

Closer cooperation, which has the potential of flowering into the 
establishment of joint police units, is regarded as essential.

At the Greek-Albanian border, for example, there is booming traffic in 
illegal immigrants, drugs and stolen cars by Greek-Albanian criminal rings. 
And one of the main reasons considered to have contributed to this increased 
criminal activity is the lack of cooperation between the authorities of the 
two neighboring countries.