The activity evaluation of the Romanian Border Police 2008

As a specialized institution of the Ministry of Administration and Interior, the Romanian Border Police has the duty to prevent and counter the perilous situations against Romania, determined by the illegal migration and the cross-border crime, and also, to protect the life, the corporal integrity and the freedom of the persons, the public and private property, other legitimate rights and interests of the citizens and of the Community, its activity constituting the public service carried out for the person's and Community's interest and in order to support the institutions of the state, exclusively on the basis of and by law enforcement.

Within the specific missions given by law, the Romanian Border Police takes measures for:

• decrease of the internal crime state, through the measures undertaken in order to counteract illegal migration and the trafficking in persons and to detect the persons committing cross-border illegal acts (that have, including, branches inside the state);
• child protection, by detecting persons trying to remove the minors from the country in order to exploit them abroad;
• ensure the public health, through the measures undertaken in the field of countering illegal trafficking in drugs, etc.

In 2008, the Romanian Border Police pursued to fulfill strictly the tasks given by the national law in force, both regarding the optimization of border surveillance and control, respectively to counter efficiently the cross-border crime, and regarding the abiding of the rights and freedoms of the citizens, respectively to guarantee high quality services to all the citizens for whose benefit we carry out our activity.

Also, it was permanently pursued the achievement of the tasks of our institution in the context of the arrangements that Romania undertook in order to access the Schengen area, being developed and implemented policies and managerial concepts / institutional modernization at the Community standards level, as to assure a high level of security of the Romanian borders (out of which over 2.000 km represent the E.U. external border - the future external Schengen border).

Besides the fundamental objective above mentioned, the managerial policy applied in 2008 at the level of the institution also endorsed: optimisation of the working procedures; law Euroconformity; enhancement and modernization of police management; institutional reorganization; optimisation of human resources management; internal and external inter-institutional cooperation; decrease of the crime phenomenon; development of the technical-operative capacity.

Briefly, in the reference period, the actions and results obtained by the Romanian Border Police were the following:

• in the legislative field,
• in the institutional and human resources field,
• in the insurance of the logistic equipments field,
• in the national and international cooperation field,
• accession to the Schengen area,
• results in the operative field.

The objectives of the Border Police for 2009

• Legislative:
• drawing up some studies necessary for detailing certain provisions from the Schengen documents in order to implement uniformly their regulations;
• regulation of the cooperation and of the responsibilities coordination of the different structures and internal and external agencies (e.g. Cooperation Memorandum);
• drawing up the legal framework for setting up and functioning of a National Coordination Center monitoring and coordinating permanently the activity of all the national authorities that have duties of control and surveillance at the external borders;
• Institutional:
• providing the training at R.B.P. territorial structures level of the Schengen Auto-Evaluation missions and participating within the mixed teams according to the Decisions of the National Commission for Schengen Auto-Evaluation;
• providing some implementation mechanisms of the measures necessary for the accession process to the Schengen area with tasks and terms for every R.B.P. structure;
• implementation of the e-learning system at R.B.P. structures level;
• monitoring the achievement of the measures within the Schengen evaluation / Auto-evaluation reports;
• implementation of the Integrated training Conception in the Schengen field approved by the National Commission for the Schengen Auto-evaluation;
• setting up the National Coordination Center monitoring and coordinating permanently the activity of all the national authorities that have duties of control and surveillance at the external borders, able to exchange information with similar Centers from other states, and with FRONTEX Agency;
• enhancement of the cooperation at national and international level with the law enforcement competent authorities to counter the cross-border crime efficiently;
• Operative:
• enhancement, by the operative structures, of the concrete actions of prevention and countering cross-border crime and, especially, the international trafficking in drugs, illegal migration, and also the trafficking in persons;
• continuing the professionalizing / specialization process of the border policemen within the structures of countering transnational crime for specific implementation of each working line and creating a uniform working manner;
• continuing and finalizing the structural modernization process of the R.B.P. operative formations in order to ensure the full compatibility with the E.U. similar structures;
• enhancement of the concrete actions of internal and international interinstitutional police cooperation;
• increasing the monitoring level of the illegal migrants flows that affect Romania, by enhancing the cooperation with the national and international competent authorities;
• achievement of the R.B.P. activities from the National Action Plan 2008 - 2010 on the implementation of the National Strategy Against Trafficking in Persons;
• providing a high level of border security - especially, the E.U. external borders - at Community requests level and carrying on the actions to achieve, as soon as possible, the preliminary conditions necessary for the application of the Schengen acquis provisions and the accession to this area.

 

The actions and results obtained by the Romanian Border Police:

In the legislative field

The alignment legislation process was continued through which the activity of the Romanian Border Police was regulated so that the disharmonies and parallelisms should be avoided and the aim is to fulfill the E.U. recommendations in the border security field.

The Romanian Border Police applies, in the present, the provisions of the Regulation 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on creating a Community Code on the rules governing the free movement of persons across the border (Schengen Border Code), Directive 38 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the right of the citizens of the Union and their members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, Commission Recommendation EC of 06.11.2006 establishing a "Practical Handbook for Border Guards" (Schengen Handbook) as well as other legal acts regarding the control of the borders transposed into the national law (e.g. in the field of asylum, the foreigners regime in Romania, etc.).

In the institutional and human resources filed

Measures of reconstruction of the institutional system, of the decisional decentralization, of the responsibility and the professional level increase of the personnel, respectively, of perfecting the surveillance and control procedures at the state border crossing according to the European standards were implemented.

A main objective of the Romanian Border Police in the human resources field was to improve the quality of the professional attitude of own personnel, by assuring the necessary personnel and increasing the level of initial and continuous professional training, on the basis of an advanced system in order to correspond to the requirements of the Romanian border security and of the European practices in this field.

Thus, in 2008, at the level of the institution, 448 positions were occupied (out of which: officers: 217, agents: 179, personnel employed based on contract: 52), the general employment percentage is 93, 17% - at the external border and 92, 92% - at the internal border.

Regarding the training of the personnel, the enhancement in all the fields of interest for the institution (Schengen acquis, foreign languages, specialization in the field of countering the cross-border crime phenomenon, police cooperation, etc.) was envisaged.

During this period, 528 officers and 4.315 agents were trained, out of which 498 officers and 4.098 agents within the education institutions of the Border Police and 130 officers and 217 agents within the education units of M.A.I. on different fields of countering cross-border crime, informatics and foreign languages.

Also, approximately 5.300 officers and agents were trained in order to implement the Schengen acquis and 1.713 border policemen within the "Proximity Police" concept.

In February 2008, a Framework Partnership Agreement was signed on training issues between the General Inspectorate of Border Police and FRONTEX Agency, whereby Iasi Initial and Continuous Training School of the Border Police personnel was attested as FRONTEX Partnership Academy.

At the level of this R.B.P. education institution, training courses of the border policemen from different European states were organized under FRONTEX aegis, as follows:

• 3 Mid Level training sessions - 45 officers from different E.U. Member States;
• 3 RABIT training sessions - 60 officers from different E.U. Member States.

At the same time, the Common Training Curriculum drawn up by FRONTEX was fully implemented.

As regarding the prevention and countering the corruption among own personnel, the Head of the Romanian Border Police took firm measures consisting in:

• awareness of the personnel regarding the risks they are subject to;
• elaboration of internal mandatory rules regarding the establishment of prohibitions and behaviour rules during carrying out their working tasks;
• ensuring feed-back channels (emergency phone line - 959, individual badges, video surveillance through intranet network etc.);
• involvement of the civil society in preventing and countering corruption (sharing posters and folds, in which are written the phones numbers where notifications can be made, publishing assets statements on R.B.P. site);
• rapid verification of the notifications made by the citizens and taking the legal measures according to the establishment;
• carrying out fortuitous controls and integrity tests at the level of all subordinated structures;
• invitation to dialogue of the union and the National Police Corps in order to obtain their support and involvement in countering corruption acts.

Also, a good collaboration with the General Anticorruption Directorate within M.A.I and with the National Anticorruption Directorate was maintained, the R.B.P. supported permanently the two institutions, both informational and making available the documents and information on possible corruption acts among R.B.P. personnel operatively or for resolving some opened files.

A positive result of the prevention and countering measures of the implemented corruption is represented by the withdrawals, in 2008, 26 border policemen informed their superiors regarding some persons that intended to offer bribe.

In the logistic equipments assurance field:

The enhanced efficiency of the security measures at the state borders was possible, during this period, also due to a substantial logistic support, in continuous development and modernization, achieved also through own efforts and with external decisive support.

In 2008, our institution carried out and finalized a series of investment programmes, financed by government loans and PHARE programmes, concerning mainly: improvement of the working and living conditions of the policemen, purchasing of technique for land and naval mobility, last generation specific equipments for surveillance and control at the border crossing, etc. Thus:

• were purchased, through PHARE programme:
  
  • 5 patrol and intervention river boats P66;
  • 50 patrol river boats ARVOR 215;
• the endowment of the Border Police structures was supplemented with 250 land vehicles, 70 buses 16+1 seats, 20 buses 8+1 seats and 20 buses;
• the modernization of the Border Police Headquarters was realized within Maramures, Timis, Satu Mare, Mehedinti and Caras Severin Counties.

Together with the updating of the National Strategy on Integrated Border State Management, approved by G.D. 324/2007, the logistic structures of the R.B.P. drew up the Action Plan for implementation and updated the Multi-annual Unique Plan for Investments during 2008-2010 for the Romanian Border Police.

In the national and international cooperation field:

Interinstitutional collaboration at national and international level was and is a field extremely important for the Romanian Border Police.

Throughout the year 2008, the cooperation between R.B.P. and the other state institutions with responsabilities at the border had a permanent character, constituting an essential element for efficient implementation of the strategies and legislation in this field. This was materialized through operative exchange of data and information, joint actions, participating at joint instruction programmes, joint exploitation of the risk analysis specific for the activity field of each institution, etc. Thus, it had in view increasing the efficiency in the field of countering transnational crime and realizing a fluent and operative control in the crossing points.

Also, in order to prevent and counter transnational crime, our institution cooperated with liaison officers and Romanian Home Affairs attachés situated in source / transit states for illegal migration or the ones belonging to these states, authorized in Romania.

In international plan, a strong collaboration with the similar structures from the E.U. Member States and not only existed, but also with other international institutions / bodies with responsibilities in the border field, the operative result obtained being a proof of the efficiency of these bilateral relations.

Also, the joint control system was maintained with one stop in the border crossing points, implemented since January 2007, at the level of Romanian-Hungarian and Romanian-Bulgarian borders. The good collaboration between our institution and similar structures from the two neighbouring states allowed obtaining important common results, both in the field of detecting forgeries in documents, persons hidden in the means of transportation, drugs, and in the other transnational organized crime fields.

Otherwise, the professionalism of the Romanian border policemen and their opening towards collaboration, permanently developed in the reports with the other partners, had an essential contribution in order to obtain the institutional performances and to create a positive view of the Romanian Border Police abroad.

The institution is appreciated as a competent and credible partner in the fight against cross-border crime and, also, has the respect and the appreciation of the other similar structures from the E.U. Member States and not only.

Among the important international actions carried out by the representatives of the institution, we notice:

• the IXth Annual Meeting of the Border Police / Coast Guards Chiefs from the Black Sea littoral states (November 2008), when the Romanian Border Police took over the presidency of this reunion;
• The representatives of the Romanian Border Police participated at all the working groups that were carried out in Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia.
• sending border policemen, as liaison officers in the field of countering illegal migration and cross-border crime, to international missions carried out in:
  
  • 22 officers - in the airports in Italy;
  • 9 employees - at the Romanian Consulate from the Republic of Moldova;
  • 10 experts detached within the police structures in Austria for support missions, with the occasion of the European Football Championship 2008;
• sending border policemen to international peacekeeping missions, carried out in:
  
  • Kosovo, U.N.O.: 7 officers;
  • Haiti, U.N.O.: 1 officer;
  • Rafah, Eu Bam: 1 officer;
  • Republic of Moldova Eu Bam: 2 officers;
  • Georgia, Eu Bam: 2 officers.

In 2008, the Romanian Border Police also developed an important cooperation with the FRONTEX Agency.

To this end, the Romanian Border Police employees participated at 24 Joint Operations or pilot projects, organized under Frontex aegi, both on the territory of other Member States, and on the territory of our state, as it follows:

• at the green border: 15 (6 as a "host country");
  E.g.: RABIT Exercise - Dacia 2008 - carried out at the Eastern Romanian border, where participated also, besides the Romanian authorities, border policemen from other 23 E.U and Schengen Member States.
• at the blue border: 4 (1 as "host country");
  E.g.: EUXINE 2008 Operation - the first operation coordinated by FRONTEX Agency at the Black Sea, where participated 24 experts from the Member States, 3 experts within Frontex, 2 helicopters with own crew, 4 boats from Ukraine with own crew, 2 Ukrainian experts and 1 expert from the Republic of Moldova.
• at the air border: 5 (2 as "host country").

Also, with the support of R.B.P. and under FRONTEX aegis, in 2008, in Oradea, a public demonstration of the service dogs skills used by the structures with border responsibilities from the E.U. Member States (E.U. Dog Training Show) was organized. At this activity were invited to participate 80 representatives of the border police structures from the E.U. Member States, with approximately 40 service dogs.

The Romanian Border Police is characterized by the Agency as an important partner, actively supporting and participating in carrying out FRONTEX projects in order to secure E.U. external borders.

Accession to the Schengen area

In the border control field, 10 training missions for the Schengen accession were organized, out of which 8 auto-evaluation missions with national experts and 2 pre-evaluation meetings with the support of some foreign experts (Slovaks and Lithuanians). The missions were carried out, both under the aegis of the Mixed Commission for Schengen evaluation for international ports and airports, and by own forces.

These missions covered all the territorial structures of R.B.P. being considered a very special instrument regarding the training of the structures for the adequate missions to be taking place during 2009 - 2010.

Results in the operative field

1. Trafficking in persons and auto means

The traffic values recorded in the border control points, in 2008, were over 43.000.000 person crossings.

	2007	2008
E.U. citizens	30.788.430	36.522.810
Non-E.U. citizens	5.830.808	6.595.173
Total	36.619.238	43.117.983

In 2008, the traffic values recorded in the border crossing points increased with 17, 7% than 2007.

In 2008, approximately 13.600.000 means of transportation crossed through the border crossing points, with 20% more than the same period of the last year.

 

2. Illegal acts observed at the border

During this period 29.934 illegal acts were detected (11.242 crimes and 18.692 contraventions). According to the crime categories, the situation is as follows:

Crimes	2007	2008
Crossing / illegal entry / exit attempt in /out of the country	1.655	2.875
Facility	111	227
False and use of false	1.795	1.803
Arms - ammunition	149	182
Drugs	115	167
Stolen vehicles	70	96
Intellectual property right	162	327
Trafficking in persons	380	501
Economic-financial crimes	733	680
Other crimes	4.379	4.384
TOTAL	9.549	11.242

In terms of observing and penalization of the contraventional acts, in 2008, contraventional fines were given to 18.692 persons (16.628 Romanians and 2.064 foreigners), amounting to 7.369.322 lei.

3. Countering illegal migration - foreign citizens

In 2008, the Romanian Border Police undertook firm measures, in all the competence areas, in order to detect and detain the persons trying to transit illegally the Romanian state border and to prevent and counter illegal migration and the trafficking in persons.

As a result of these measures, in 2008, 546 migrants groups were detected - 232 identified traffickers and 1.628 migrants - out of which 39 groups (143 traffickers and 252 migrants) were organized in order to commit trafficking with migrants, according to the Law 39/2003. Comparing with the same period of the last year, 367 migrants groups were detected, within which were identified 147 traffickers and 1.164 migrants.

At the same time, both in the crossing points and at the "green border", 2.120 foreign citizens were detected, out of which 1.069 persons entered illegally in Romania and 1.051 persons tried to exit by crossing the border fraudulent. Out of these, 416 foreign citizens identified themselves with false or forged travel documents / visas and 306 were detected hidden in the transportation means.

Than 2007, an increase by approximately 49% of the detections registered by the border policemen in the field of illegal migration was registered.

Also, 168 facilitators / transporters were detected, than 46 facilitators / transporters detected in the same period of the year 2007.

4. Countering trafficking in persons

In the field of prevention and countering trafficking in persons, in 2008, as a result of the actions undertaken by the border policemen, 184 cases were identified, with 393 traffickers identified and 511 victims. After the instrumentation of the cases, the border policemen identified 40 organized groups for committing trafficking in persons (with 160 traffickers and 195 victims).

In 2007, 148 cases of trafficking in human beings were recorded, out of which 26 organized groups for committing trafficking in persons.

5. Countering cross-border crime

In the field of trafficking in drugs, 393, 986 kilos of drugs (386, 976 kilos of heroine, 0, 432 kilos of cannabis, 0, 134 kilos of cocaine and 6, 444 kilos of hashish) were discovered based on which criminal files for 99 persons were drawn up.

Also, over 660 kilos of drugs were seized on the territory of other states on the basis of the information provided by the Romanian border policemen.

Comparing with the last year, when 122, 059 kilos of drugs were detected, it can be noticed an increase by 3, 2 times of all the amount of drugs detained by our employees in the competence area.

In the field of trafficking in arms and ammunition, 105 arms, 508, 546 cartridges and 5 tear gas or paralyzing sprays were detected based on which criminal files for 153 persons were drawn up for committing trafficking in arms, ammunition, explosives, toxic products.

In the field of stolen vehicles, in the analyzed period, 129 luxury vehicles stolen from abroad were detected in the border crossing points.

In the field of smuggling of consumer and excisable goods, in the analyzed period, the border policemen detained for the purpose of confiscation over 9.500.000 smuggled cigarettes packets, with a value of over 11 million Euros (45.448.723).

Also, goods for the black market, with a value of approximately 200 million lei, over 7, 5 kilos of golden jewels and 10 kilos of silver jewels, as well as 20 patrimony objects were detected. 680 economic-financial crimes were noticed in which 827 persons were involved.

In the filed of countering fish poaching, 1.204 criminal files were drawn up and 1.417 contraventions with a value of 169.108 lei were applied. As a result of the actions carried out independently or in collaboration with other authorities with responsibilities in this field, 92 boats, 71.950 m monofilament nets, 589 s.m. trawl nets, 155 s.m. trammels, 1.081 fishing tools, 24.836 kilos of fish (out of which 60 kilos of sturgeon) and 89, 340 kilos of roe.

In the field of countering infringements to the intellectual property rights regime, 973.327 pieces of counterfeited clothing and underwear were discovered and detained for the purpose of confiscation; 426.863 pieces of counterfeited perfumery products; 311.873 footwear pairs; 13.176 pieces of optical storage units.

RETROSPECTIVE 2008 - SPECIAL CASES

 

COUNTERING ILLEGAL MIGRATION AND TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS:

 

• Indian citizens, detained at the Ukrainian border
  During March 2008, the border policemen from Maramures region, in collaboration with the employees within Maramures Romanian Information Service, detained on the Tisa range, Maramures County, at approximately 100 meters from the border line, 41 Indian citizens which entered illegally in Romania, crossing the Tisa river with the support of an inflatable boat.
  In order to detain the group, the border policemen had to use the endowed arms, being shot six warning shots vertically, respecting the legal procedures, so that no one would be injured and not to violate the border of the neighbouring state.
  From the verifications that were carried out, resulted that the persons involved had Indian origin; the men were aged between 16 and 53 and intended to arrive to the Western Europe.
  As a result of the fact that all the persons requested the issuing of the refugee status in Romania, the border policemen handed them over to the Romanian Immigration Office in Maramures.
  
  
• Traffickers of Romanian citizens for Great Britain and Israel, detained by the Romanian border policemen
  In September 2008, four Romanians - Udrea O., Cristina O., Lucian F. and Zaharia B. - were sent to Court for committing recruitment, guidance and facility of the persons in order to cross illegally the border of a neighbouring state, as well as for constituting abetting to this sense.
  The persons involved were detected by the border policemen within the Directorate for Countering Illegal Migration - the General Inspectorate of the Border Police, under the coordination of a Prosecutor within D.I.I.C.O.T., and were presented in front of the Court in order to respond for their actions.
  For 4 years, the traffickers tricked many persons - Romanian citizens, who wanted to work in Great Britain or Israel - obtaining from them great amounts of money, scores of thousands Euros.
  During the investigations, the border policemen established that, under an apparently legal "cover" - setting up an air transportation company - the leader of the group issued a series of false documents, authorizing the quality of the pilots or of the flight attendants for the persons that wanted to get illegally to Great Britain. Subsequently, he obtained them visas for air transit to England, a transit that the migrants didn't perform, remaining illegally on the British territory.
  After the instrumentation of the criminal file, under the coordination of D.I.I.C.O.T Prosecutor, the defendants Udrea O., Cristina O., Lucian F. and Zaharia B. were presented in front of the Court being chargeable with committing recruitment, guidance and facility of the persons in order to cross illegally the border of a neighbouring state, as well as for constituting abetting to this sense.
  
  
• Trafficking in human beings network, neutralized by the border policemen from Iasi
  In September 2008, the border policemen within Iasi Border Police Directorate and the policemen within the Iasi Brigade for Countering Organized Crime, under the coordination of a D.I.I.C.O.T. Prosecutor - Iasi Territorial Service, identified a network dealing with trafficking in human flesh acting on the Romanian-Spanish route.
  From the verifications that were carried out, it was established that the network had been acting for 5 years (during 2003 - 2008), dealing with recruiting young girls (including minors) and with their transportation, legally, to Spain where they were obligated to prostitute for the benefit of the traffickers. Through the sexual exploitation of the girls, the traffickers obtained important amounts of money.
  Several house searches and roundups were carried out, when the Romanian citizens R.A, aged 30 from Giurgiu County, R.F., aged 30 from Iasi County, T.C., aged 35 from Botosani County and C.T., aged 28 from Iasi County, members of the trafficking in persons network were identified.
  Also, in this case, insurance measures were disposed for the amount of 25.000 Euros, 500 grams of golden jewels, two vehicles (BMW and Audi A6), with approximate value of 50.000 Euros and an apartment with three rooms, about which there were information that they might result from the crime product.

TRAFFICKING IN PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES:

• Impressive heroine seizure at the border with Ukraine
  At the beginning of January 2008, as a result of ample investigations, in cooperation with the German authorities, the antidrug officers within General Inspectorate of Border Police with the support of the customs employees and under the coordination of D.I.I.C.O.T. Prosecutors realized one of the most important drugs seizures, intended for the markets in Western Europe.
  After the operations, approximately 132 kilos of heroine hidden in the chassis of a freight vehicle driven by the Turkish citizen Mehmet Ozaktas, aged 47, were seized near the border with Ukraine (Halmeu Border Crossing Point, Satu Mare County).
  The route performed by the driver (Ukraine - Romania) and the fact that he stated subsequently that he did not know the exact destination of the travel made the authorities become suspicious.
  After detailed control 254 packets containing a brown substance were discovered in hiding places made directly in the chassis of the freight vehicle. After the preliminary test, the substance weighting approximately 131, 4 kilos reacted positively at heroine.
  The value of the drugs on the consumer market was estimated at over 10 million Euros.
  
  
• Approximately 108 kilos of heroine hidden in a TIR loaded with furniture
  The border policemen within the General Inspectorate of Border Police - Directorate for Countering Cross-Border Crime and Oradea Border Police Directorate, under the coordination of the D.I.I.C.O.T Prosecutors discovered approximately 108 kilos of heroine hidden in a TIR loaded with furniture intended for "the outlet market" in Western Europe.
  In May 2008, in Petea Border Crossing Point, Satu Mare County, the Romanian citizen Marian T., aged 55, the driver of a fright vehicle transporting, according to the accompanying documents, furniture for a company in E.U., presented on the exit way from the country.
  On the basis of the risk analysis, using the antidrug dog and the technical equipment for detecting and analyzing the drugs, the border policemen carried out a detailed control of the transportation mean, when in a specially arranged place - between the furniture packages - more raffia bags were discovered, in which existed 216 blocks containing 108 kilos of brown coloured substance. After testing the substance with the endowed equipment, resulted to be heroine.
  
  
• A citizen from Bucharest, wanted by the Australian authorities for 13 years for trafficking in drugs from Latin America to Australia and other West-European states, was detained by the Romanian border policemen
  The Romanian citizen - T. Vasile, aged 45 from Bucharest - the leader of an important cross-border crime organization dealing with trafficking in drugs from states in Latin America to Australia and West-European states (among which the Netherlands) was detained by the Romanian border policemen in October 2008.
  Together with him, another two Romanian citizens, "lieutenants" of the above mentioned - Alexandru Z., aged 25 and Laura K., aged 31 - responsible with recruiting Romanian carriers and sending them to South American countries in order to take over and to transport the freight to the states from Southern and Western Europe were identified and detained. From the investigations carried out by the border policemen and the information obtained from the foreign partners - D.E.A. - U.S.A. and the authorities from the Netherlands and Australia - was established that the leader of the network was wanted for 13 years by the Australian authorities because he was eluding the execution of imprisonment for acts regarding the import and the cocaine possession.
  Starting with 1995, the crime group coordinated by the Romanian had organized at least 18 cocaine transports from Latin America to Australia, the amounts of money circulating to facilitate the transports exceeded 1 million dollars.
  The role of the citizen from Bucharest was to intermediate the sale and purchase of the drugs, having direct connections both with the suppliers from South America and with the "beneficiaries" from Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, etc. In order not to take any risks, he did not get involved in the transportation of the "freight" to the destination countries, but the duty had to be done by "the carriers" subordinated to him, most were Romanian citizens.
  The carriers were recruited and "processed" (were sent to take the drugs from South America and were taught how and where to transport them to the destination countries), by the two "lieutenants" with which the leader maintained a permanent connection.
  
  
• Network dealing with cocaine trafficking from the Dominican Republic to Western Europe, neutralized by the Romanian border policemen
  The Antidrug border policemen within G.I.B.P. - D.C.C.B.C and Constanta D.B.P., under the coordination of D.I.I.C.O.T. - Constanta Territorial Service with the support of the Romanian Information Service - Constanta County Directorate, identified a network of drugs traffickers dealing with the cocaine transport from the Dominican Republic to Western Europe.
  The method used by the carriers (most of them Romanian citizens) was a new one for our co-nationals, respectively, swallowing cocaine pellets and thus, using his/her own body as a "mean of transportation". For each swollen pellet and transported to destination, a carrier received 50 Euros (total amount for one transport was approximately 5.000 Euros).
  The persons accepting this kind of proposal were transported to the Dominican Republic, where, initially, for a certain period of time, were subject to some "exercises" in order to develop their skills necessary for the drugs transportation through this method.
  In November 2008, on Aurel Vlaicu Airport, the Romanian border policemen succeeded to detain the leader of the network, the Romanian citizen Cristian C. aged 22. Another three Romanian citizens, each swallowing approximately 1 kilo of cocaine were detained by the French authorities on the basis of the information provided by the Romanian border policemen.

TRAFFICKING WITH CIGARETTES:

• IASI (July 2008)
     An important crime group dealing with cigarette smuggling was annihilated as a result of the actions carried out by the Romanian Border Police and the D.I.I.C.O.T. Prosecutors, in collaboration with the Romanian Information Service.
  The group was composed of five members - three Romanian citizens (among which the Chief of the Albita Customs Office), a Moldavian citizen and one with double citizenship Romanian and Moldavian - and was structured on several levels, with attributions well established for each member.
  On 17.07.2008, as a result of a roundup carried out at a commercial society on Constanta County range was detected a transport in which were hidden, through the "lid" method, 1.000 cigarette containers, loaded with over 600.000 cigarettes packets.
  This was the fifth transport monitored and detained by the border policemen, during April 2008, within the same action being detected four autocisterns loaded with over 456.000 cigarettes packets originated in Republic of Moldova.
  On 18 July 2008, the D.I.I.C.O.T. Prosecutors - Iasi Territorial Service disposed the detention of the five members of the organized crime group for committing initiation, formation, accession or supporting an organized crime group, presenting at the customs authority commercial and transport documents referring to other freights than the ones presented at the customs, fraud and infringements of the dispositions regarding the import or export operations.

 

• CONSTANTA (July 2008)
     One of the biggest crime group dealing on the Romanian territory with the smuggling of cigarettes, and at international level dealing with trafficking in drugs, money laundering and smuggling was annihilated as a result of the actions carried out by the Romanian Border police, in collaboration with the Romanian Information Service, General Directorate for Information and Internal Protection (D.G.I.P.I.), Financial Guard, National Customs Authority, as well as the structures for antidrug fight of the United States and the structures of other countries from the European Union.
  The network was coordinated by a Ukrainian citizen, resident in New York, which, in the present, is arrested in U.S.A. for committing organized crime (trafficking in drugs, money laundering, smuggling), the criminal activity of the network's members was extended on the territory of several European states, where its members had storage points and outlet markets.
  On the Romanian territory, the network was dealing with illegal trafficking in cigarettes; the Romanian authorities intercepted several cigarettes transports, and over 700.000 cigarettes packets for smuggling were confiscated. If the cigarettes arrived on the black market the profit of the traffickers would have exceeded 700.000 Euros.
  In Romania, for association in order to commit crimes related to organized crime, 16 persons were sent in front of the Court, out of which 14 Romanians, one with double citizenship Romanian and German and a Moldavian citizen.

  

 

TRAFFICKING WITH ARMS:

• Bucuresti (March 2008)
  As a result of the cooperation activities with Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A) from U.S.A leading to the detention of Monzer Al Kassar in June 2007, - wanted for committing terrorism acts, the border policemen within G.I.B.P - Directorate for Countering Cross-Border Crime were requested by the American authorities for their support in order to identify and detain one of the biggest arms traffickers in the world - Viktor Bout.
  For two weeks, the officers within the Directorate for Countering Cross-Border Crime - G.I.B.P., under the coordination of the D.I.I.C.O.T Prosecutors, carried out informative-operative actions in order to locate the trafficker and to prove his illegal actions of international arms trafficking.
  Together with the D.E.A. colleagues which came to Bucharest, the Romanian border police established several action variants in order to catch Bout about which existed information that he would be interested in meeting some "arms beneficiaries" (foreign citizens), including in Romania. To this end, under the coordination of the Prosecutors, the dialogues carried out between Bout, one of his "lieutenants" and undercover investigators regarding arms transport to Columbia (worth 5 million dollars) were monitored, also they tried to "decoy" him in our country in order to be detained.
  From the investigations resulted that the arms were to be obtained and to be sold by Viktor Bout trafficker to F.A.R.C. group (Revolutionary Armed Force of Columbia). The evidence obtained after the informative-operative actions carried out in Romania, with the support of the Romanian Border Police, resulted the arrest and the incrimination of Viktor Bout for committing conspiracy and association in order to traffic illegally arms to foreign terrorist organizations.
  Viktor Bout, wanted by the Interpol for infringing the U.N.O. embargoes regarding the trade with arms from several countries, was detained, on 06.03.2008, in Bangkok, by the Thai Police on the basis of the American arrest warrant.