Minister: Mafia More Organized Than Police

Karamarko says there is a lot of evidence that Zeljko Milovanovic is guilty of murdering Ivo Pukanic. He hopes for an arrest soon.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - Tomislav Karamarko, the Croatian Minister of Internal Affairs of Croatia, said in a conversation for “Dnevni Avaz” that the security situation in the region is satisfactory. However, he stressed that the murder of Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic confirm the issue of organized crime and mafia organizations that endanger that security.

“However, as you saw, the Croatian police is recording successes in recent months” said Karamarko leading up to a Ministry of Internal Affairs meeting scheduled for Sunday.

He stressed that mafia groups in the region are compatible and that they act together in most cases.

“The mafia in the Balkans is one joint organism. The only way to face up to it is for the police forces, all security structures, start to act and be compatible with each other, to be in agreement, to exchange information, and sometimes act together” said Karamarko for “Dnevni Avaz”.

Besides that, Karamarko said that there is an impression that the mafia is more organized than the police.

“However, at the moment when the state decides to show its teeth, if this is done by a number of state with their security structures, then I am definitely optimistic that the mafia is losing, conditionally said, the war” says Karamarko.

He said that this does not mean that the police is not organized, which is proven by the meeting in Sarajevo.

When asked for the location of Zeljko Milovanovic, who is suspected for the murder of Pukanic and Franjic, Karamarko did not know the answer.

“It is hard to say where he is. I assume that he is somewhere in Bosnia Herzegovina. We believe in the professionalism of our colleagues in Bosnia Herzegovina, and we know they are capable of locating him and finding him. We expect that Milovanovic will soon be on trial in Bosnia Herzegovina” said Karamarko.

However, he stressed that there are only assumptions that Milovanovic is inside the borders of Bosnia Herzegovina.

Karamarko, amongst other things, denied the claims of Milovanovic that he wrote in a letter he sent to “Press”, saying that he is not responsible for the murder of Pukanic and Franjic.

“There are many arguments and much evidence that remove this doubt totally” says Karamarko.