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News

20.04.2013

A Common Operation at the Green Border in Macedonia under the Auspices of the DCAF Border Security Programme

Western Balkan region - The common operation at the green border in Macedonia was successfully conducted between 14 and 20 April 2013, focused specifically on the detection of illegal migrants crossing the border into Macedonia. Other cross-border criminal activities, e.g. instances of trafficking in human beings, smuggling of goods and motor vehicle related crime, were also detected during the 6-day operation. The Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe (PCC SEE) and national legal frameworks were utilized as the legal basis for the region-wide cross-border operational measure. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia each assigned two police officers, experts in border surveillance and interviews to the operation.

The location of the operation was the green border between the Republic of Macedonia, the area of responsibility of the Bogorodica Border Surveillance Police Station in the total length of 56 kilometers. The selected part of the green border was surveyed and controlled with the help of optoelectronic surveillance devices (day/night vision binoculars, thermal visions and vehicles for video surveillance). Most officers performed their duties in their own uniforms, using also their personal equipment, such as thermal visions and other devices for border surveillance, and also carried their own personal weapons.