FBIS3-21770 "jptdd010__l94075"
JPRS-TDD-94-010L Document Type:JPRS Document Title:Narcotics 7 March 1994
EAST EUROPE ROMANIA

Interior Minister Discusses `Explosion' of Mafia-Type Crime

AU0403131594 Bucharest TINERETUL LIBER in Romanian 24 Feb 94 pp 1, 3 AU0403131594 Bucharest TINERETUL LIBER Language: Romanian Article Type:BFN ["Exclusive Interview with Lieutenant General George Ioan Danescu, Minister of Interior, for TINERETUL LIBER"; place and date not given: "Latest Mafia-Type Armed Confrontations in Bucharest"] [Excerpts] [TINERETUL LIBER] Mr. Minister, a new phenomenon has appeared in Romania today: Mafia-type crime. What action are the police and Ministry of Interior taking to prevent and fight this social evil? Danescu: When you say that we are facing a new phenomenon, you are referring to its novelty for the broad public and, maybe, even for you journalists. For us professionals, however, Mafia-type crime, that is to say organized crime, is neither new nor surprising, because signs of it existed in Romania even before December 1989, something which I also emphasized a year ago at a news conference. As a matter of fact, it was to be expected that certain changes that occurred in Romanian society and its opening-up in the post-revolutionary period would offer favorable conditions for such developments and for the emergence of negative phenomena. [passage omitted] I am mainly referring to illicit organized trafficking in drugs, counterfeit money, trade in automobiles stolen abroad and sold in Romania and other states, prostitution, the operation of international pimps, corruption and smuggling on an unbelievably large scale, armed attacks to obtain material gain and maintain an atmosphere of civic insecurity, money laundering and hacking into banking financial systems, labor-force swindles, illegal capital transfers abroad, the introduction into the country of large amounts of toxic waste, arms deals, hired killers, and blackmail. As far as corruption alone is concerned, I want to mention that, in 1990, we uncovered 1,197 such cases; in 1991--4,937; in 1992--6,043; and in 1993--10,631 cases of offering and taking bribes, misuse of one's position, and receipt of undue benefits. [passage omitted] The scale of such violations and the increasingly obvious tendency of criminals to organize themselves on the basis of Mafia-type principles have convinced the Ministry of Interior of the necessity to adopt more firm measures to try to control the explosion of this phenomenon and stop it from developing. I am talking of both creating and perfecting new organizational structures and ensuring the appropriate training of our staff with special tasks in the area of fighting crime. For example, in April 1993, we set up the Brigade for Fighting Organized Crime, which has parallel structures at the local level, as well as an office for combating corruption with similar departments at the level of county police inspectorates and in Bucharest. [passage omitted] As expected, the results of these measures were not slow in coming; some of them--please forgive my lack of modesty--were absolutely spectacular. For example, from April to December last year, employees from the Brigade for Fighting Organized Crime arrested 67 people from whom 11,374,925 [figures as published] kg of drugs were confiscated (105,658 kg of cocaine, 93,368 kg of heroin, 11,180 kg of cannabis, and 1,108 kg of opium). During the same period, more exactly in November, we uncovered two operations involving the smuggling of stolen automobiles in the counties of Bihor and Mures. [passage omitted] I want to specify that investigations into 27 counterfeit-money dealers have been finalized; they are Romanian and foreign citizens belonging to six groups. Investigations have revealed that these people have put into circulation counterfeit money amounting to no less than $900,000 and 35,000 German marks in Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Hungary, and Ukraine. It is worth mentioning the action organized by the Romanian police, together with the Criminal Police Directorate, in the Republic of Moldova, which resulted in the arrest of a network of criminals who had been organizing the illegal transit through Romania of foreign citizens bound for West European countries. [passage omitted] Although these results give us cause for satisfaction, they do not make us self-satisfied, because it would be abnormal to adopt such an attitude when violent confrontations--admittedly rare--are taking place on the streets of Bucharest, some even claiming victims. [passage omitted] We are continuing to promote a wide range of measures, including increasing the contribution made by other branches of the Ministry of Interior, aside from that of the police, which are aimed at fighting organized crime, a present-day evil that claims human lives and causes tremendous material damage.