Croatians Bust International Arms Ring
July 28 -- Missiles, machine guns and explosives seized in Croatia are believed to have been destined for republican guerrillas opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process, Irish police said today.
A spokesman said Croatian police had intercepted the arms earlier this month, arresting several Croatians in the port city of Split. Senior Irish police officers then flew to Croatia.
Following the seizure, one man was arrested in Dundalk, close to the Northern Irish border and is being detained nearby in Monaghan, police said.
“The haul included anti-tank rockets, sub-machine guns, commercial explosive and detonating material. We believe the weaponry was destined for this country,” the spokesman told Reuters.
A Croatian Interior Ministry spokesman said the arms appeared to have originated in Bosnia.
Croatia at a Turning Point
The Bosnian border is largely controlled by extremist Bosnian Croats who have defied all efforts by Bosnia’s international controllers to oust them. The Bosnia-Herzegovina region is regarded as an “offshore haven” for weapons, drugs and other illicit dealings.
Power has been dominated by hard-line nationalists who support late President Franjo Tudjman and his HDZ nationalist party.
But the new government, under President Stipe Mesic, has promised full cooperation with the international community on all international trade issues. This includes co-operating with the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
There has since been a visible clamp-down on drug-dealing and human trafficking. And several leading businessmen are facing charges of corruption.
The seizure also marks a turning point in Croatian co-operation with the authorities worldwide on arms smuggling.
Croatia is notorious for its role in arms smuggling especially during the wars of the last decade in the Balkans.
Western intelligence authorities have accused Tudjman and his HZD nationalist party “clique” of actively encouraging arms smuggling to all sides in the conflict; the Bosnians, the Kosovars, and even the enemy Serbs.
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