Director of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zoran Galić met today with the Prime Minister of the Una-Sana Canton Mustafa Ružnić and the Mayor of Bihać Šuhret Fazlić and confirmed the current inability of this agency to adequately protect the state border.

-We are still working according to the ordinance from 2000, which prescribes one man within an area of 16 kilometers and one patrol within an area of 32 kilometers in the control of the green border. We have been silent for four or five years and trying to cover up our shame. How can I convince our public or anyone else that we can guard the border with one patrol at 32 kilometers ?! It would be absurd to defend such a thesis from an expert point of view- Galić stated.

It was pointed out that all the necessary preconditions for the reform of the B&H Border Police have been met, but that the competent state institutions have not implemented it for more than five years.

“First of all, we want to jointly appeal to the competent state institutions. It is February and we know that a new influx of migrants and refugees awaits us. It is necessary to deal with the security aspect because suffice it to say that the USC MoI currently lacks 120 police officers and the BiH Border Police up to 1,200 people. Material and technical equipment is also far from a satisfactory level,” said Cantonal Prime Minister Ružnić.

At today's meeting in Bihać, certain joint activities were agreed, i.e. operational possibilities of the USC Police and the Border Police, when it comes to controlling the movement of migrants and refugees.