Božinović: Procurement of equipment for the border police does not suffer discontinuity

Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović assessed, during the handover of 467 vehicles for the needs of the border police, that this is a job that does not suffer discontinuity and that equipping the Croatian police is directly related to the fundamental interests of protecting Croatian borders.

“This is an unprecedented procurement when it comes to vehicles. Our contribution is to ensure that police officers in difficult terrain and weather conditions have the best and most modern equipment. This will further strengthen our actions at the border, all with the aim of protecting against illegal crossings,” said Davor Božinović after the handover held at the Police Directorate.

The Head of the Police Border Directorate, Zoran Ničeno, specified that 231 Ford Focus vehicles, 184 Škoda Codiaq SUVs, 26 Mercedes Vito vans for transporting police officers, 26 Mercedes Sprinter vans for transporting detainees and 10 Škoda Superbs were purchased for the needs of the mobile border police.

“This is the largest purchase for the needs of the border police, worth 22.3 million euros, of which 75 percent was financed by EU funds. The last purchase of passenger vehicles for the border police was in 2018, when 60 Suzuki Vitara off-road vehicles were purchased, which are now worn out. With the completion of this project, the border police have ensured the much-needed mobility in protecting the borders and preventing human smuggling,” he pointed out.

Ničeno added that the Ministry of the Interior received 156 million euros in this financial period, but that an additional 100 million euros was secured through the special efforts of the ministry in the same project period.

He also said that this year the number of illegal crossings has decreased by 47 percent, which as of today amounts to a total of 15,298 illegal crossings.

“We are one of the most active countries in the EU in preventing smuggling. Today, we have 1,171 arrested criminals, which is 34 percent less than last year and that is because the volume of illegal crossings is smaller. We do not expect any major upheavals on the migrant routes and we hope that with our work we will further redirect that route from Serbia to Hungary, as was the case before,” he added.

Ničeno said that the MUP is working intensively on harmonizing the visa regime of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia with the European visa regime so that the largest number of migrants from Russia, Turkey and China, who make up 40 percent of the total percentage of asylum seekers in Croatia, would no longer come directly to our borders.

Source: HRT