FBIS4-8957 "dreeu076_c_94011"
FBIS-EEU-94-076 Daily Report 20 Apr 1994
CZECH REPUBLIC

Paper Comments on Crime Situation in 1993

Paper Comments on Crime Situation in 1993 AU1904134094 Prague RESPEKT in Czech No 14, 4-10 Apr 94 p 4 AU1904134094 Prague RESPEKT Czech BFN [Article by Jaroslav Spurny: "Government Rejected Report on Security Situation"] [Text] Last week, Klaus's Cabinet rejected a report on which three ministries have been working for six months. According to Prime Minister Klaus, the report failed to deliver solutions for sorting out the problems indicated in the report. The government agreed, however, with the main conclusion of the report: "There is no threat to the Czech Republic that could throw its political stability out of balance or endanger its sovereignty in the foreseeable future."
Gangs, Drugs, and Spies
Organized crime, "external security risks" (nationalism, above all), and illegal migration are the most serious security problems today, the report states. Vladimir Suman, chairman of the Defense and Security Committee, recently arrived at the same conclusion on his own. The 200-page report, however, deals with his conclusions on several pages only. Last year, the police department in charge of criminal organizations eliminated 15 gangs. Their members committed murders, burglaries, and extortion and forged documents. Some of the gangs even cooperated with policemen. When apprehending mafia members, police found stolen money in the amount of $100,000, 250 kilograms of Semtex, 186 kg of perunite [perunit], submachine guns, pistols, radio transmitters, over 1,000 counterfeit passports, and 0.6 kg of radioactive californium. As regards drugs, police arrested over 100 drug traffickers and dealers. Heroin, ephedrine, cocaine, and morphine were found on them, all in amounts not exceeding 1 kilogram. Police discovered 21 money counterfeiters and also a gang that attempted to smuggle arms to Iran and Bosnia. According to the Security Information Service (BIS), no case of a planned terrorist action has been recorded on Czech territory, if we do not count 44 bomb actions without political connotations, which are under investigation by the police. BIS is convinced that Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish intelligence services have become "significantly active" on our territory. Reportedly, they are most interested in our arms exports. Arab countries, too, are reportedly very active: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, and Palestine. Allegedly, they are mostly concerned with the "continuity of economic relations." The rest of the BIS report describes the work of counterintelligence. It does so very vaguely for secrecy reasons. The Military Intelligence Service (VZS) sees the main danger in nationalist conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The military sees the second-greatest danger in the developments in the former German Democratic Republic. "The totalitarian past of the eastern laender is a fertile soil for extremist and racially intolerant individuals within the German population," the VZS analysis says. Third, the military intelligence list describes the "belt of crisis situations," which "starts in Africa, goes through the Middle East, south Europe, Central Asia and India, and ends in East Asia."
From Crime to Conviction: Too Long a Time Span
As regards the problems of internal security, all experts are united over one problem: There is too long a time span between when a crime is committed and when the perpetrator is convicted and sentenced. Only in simpler cases are perpetrators sentenced within one year. However, if a convict has committed several crimes or if he has accomplices, the criminal proceedings may take two or three years. Several figures are worth mentioning. Violent crimes increased by two-thirds in 1993 against the previous year. In the Czech Republic, 195 murders and 4,109 muggings were committed last year. A total of 20 percent of crimes are committed by minors. The highest success rate as regards explained crimes is in the district of Rychnov nad Kneznou (68 percent), and the smallest in Prague (13.5 percent). The higher increase in the crime rate was recorded in the Pardubice district (40 percent), and the smallest in Most (a 7-percent decline). As regards the Czech Republic's security, the report speaks about three priorities: An increased interest of migrants in residing in our country is being expected, and, therefore, it is important to secure the border with Slovakia as soon as possible. Organized crime (drugs, [radioactive] waste material) is expected to increase. With respect to this development, a new amendment to the criminal code is being drafted.