Pursuit of van with migrants in Zagreb

A night chase after a van with migrants took place in Zagreb. The driver of the van with foreign license plates damaged the gate at the Lučko toll station and continued his escape towards the Novi Zagreb roundabout, across the Adriatic bridge along Selska Street all the way to Ilica Street, and finally crashed into a police blockade in Kustošijanska Street. Police officers arrested the driver, who was determined to be a 31-year-old citizen of Moldova, while 32 foreign nationals were in the vehicle, including a dozen children. Another chase for a migrant smuggler took place near Pisarovina. It ended in an accident in which three minors were injured.

The police closed Kustošijanska Street in the western part of Zagreb after a dramatic chase after the driver of an Austrian-marked van allegedly transporting migrants. He broke through the gate at Lučko and sped through town, and was met by a police blockade in Kustošija. The police immediately surrounded the vehicle and pulled all the people out of it. An investigation and a criminal investigation followed.

The police followed the vehicle around Zagreb

Zoran Ničeno, the head of the Border Directorate in the Interior Ministry, said today at a press conference that police officers working under Operation Corridor had information that the van was transporting migrants along the A1 motorway towards Zagreb. They tried to stop him on one part of the motorway, but the vehicle did not stop. The police officers who tried to stop the van informed the operations and communication center of the Zagreb Police Department, which immediately engaged two traffic police patrols and two groups of special intervention police units.

“The vehicle reached the toll booths in Lučko, broke through the gate at one of the entrances, and considering the width of the toll booths in Lučko, it is very difficult to stop the vehicle there, so it was estimated that, if the vehicle stops at the booth, there is a danger for the migrants inside and the driver himself,” said Ničeno.

“So de facto the police with those four patrols, which were later joined by two more from another police station, followed the vehicle around Zagreb so that there would be no accidents to involving other people on the road. The vehicle reached Kustošijanska Street, where it was estimated that the vehicle's speed was the lowest given the configuration of the street and that it was the safest for others on the road. Two police vehicles were set up as a blockade, which the smuggler hit and thus stopped,” said Ničeno.

The children were not seriously injured

“Three children who are foreign citizens, aged 14, 10 and 7, arrived last night accompanied by their father at the Zagreb Children's Clinic after a traffic accident near Pisarovina”, said Goran Roić, the director of the Zagreb Children's Clinic.

“A 13-year-old child from a traffic accident in Kustošija arrived at the hospital this morning, accompanied by a police officer and without documents,” said Roić. The child was examined and processed. He was diagnosed with bone trauma in the area of the lower extremity and was discharged after immobilization with recommendations and obligation for a follow up examination.

Children from the traffic accidents were not seriously injured and therefore were not hospitalized.

Announcement of the Zagreb Police Department:

On the A1 motorway in the direction of Zagreb, police officers spotted a van with foreign national markings, which they suspected was transporting foreign nationals. The driver of the van refused to stop at the orders of the police officers and fled in the direction of Zagreb. Arriving at the Lučko toll station, he broke through the lowered gate and continued driving through Zagreb.

In the Zagreb area, police patrols were engaged with the aim of preventing the passage of vans on the route at a place that will be the safest for a blockade. Arriving in the area of Črnomerac, the driver of the van continued to move along Kvaternikova Street in a southerly direction, and considering that there was a danger for others on the road and passing citizens due to the way the driver of the van escaped, the police officers partially blocked Kustošijanska Street with an official vehicle, blocking further passage through that street.

Arriving at house number 2A, the van driver hit the official vehicle and stopped.

Police officers arrested the driver, who was determined to be a 31-year-old citizen of Moldova, while 32 foreign nationals were in the vehicle. Almost all foreign citizens were uninjured, and medical assistance was provided to one adult foreign citizen who was found to be slightly injured and to one minor.

None of the police officers or citizens were injured.

Source: HRT