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.