Director of the Directorate of the Organized Crime, Friedrich Schwindt UNMIK Police Spokesperson Dmitry Pryakhin UNMIK Spokesperson Jeff Bieley

Jeff Bieley: Good morning. I'd like to welcome our special guest this morning. We'll start the press conference with a briefing by Mr. Friedrich Schwindt. He is the Director of the Directorate of Organized Crime within UNMIK Police. He has some announcements for you and you'll have the opportunity to ask him some questions. Then we'll continue with our regular press conference.

Friedrich Schwindt: Thank you Jeff. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I was invited to take part in this press conference and I would like to tell you about several recent cases. In one case, and this is the first case that I would like briefly to inform you about, was an extortion case in Pristina which developed on 3 February. This extortion case was made known to us through KPS ranks. It turned out that one businessman in Pristina was threatened and somebody tried to extort a considerable amount of money from him. These threats were supported by a hand grenade thrown to his yard which did not explode, and another grenade. As soon we got information on this we investigated this case, found a suspect, arrested this suspect and this suspect has committed this crime and is now in jail waiting his trial.

The second case developed one day later. It's a kidnapping case, which unusually stood inside the borders of Kosovo. A businessman was abducted for a three days and somebody tried to extort a Mercedes car and also a considerable amount of money. This was made known to us by regional crime investigators who wanted our support. Even on Saturday evening going into Saturday night, we were able to get our officers together and to investigate this case and to get contacts to these kidnappers. That was that during the night we were able to rescue the victim and also eventually arrest seven suspects, who are awaiting trial right now.

The third topic I would like to address to you is a kidnapping, which occurred already in August where in Kosovo a four-year-old child was abducted and the family was put under pressure to pay ransom money. At that time we were able to negotiate the release of this child, but we were not able to arrest any suspects, though we already had some ideas who the suspects were. It took some time to locate them and I can tell that during this course one suspect was arrested in FYROM and then released into Kosovo into our custody. During the upcoming interviews we confirmed three more suspects and at the end of January we were able to arrest two Kosovo Albanian suspects and take them to jail. They have already committed this crime. The third suspect is at large out of the country and he will eventually be arrested also.

These are the three events that I wanted to address to you. Thank you very much.

AP: Can you give us an idea how much money is involved in all these extortion cases?

Friedrich: I could tell you, but I don't want to because we never say this just to avoid that anybody likes to take his chance also.

AP: Just to follow up, I believe you are aware of the cases, but if you could share it with us, is there any link between organized crime and political structures in Kosovo? Are you investigating any cases involving local officials and organized crime rings?

Friedrich: Well, I don't think it's a secret that organized crime is sometimes related to politics. In these three cases I have just mentioned, it is not. But also these cases are not purely organized crime. They were rather life-threatening cases which we take care from time to time also.

Express: I believe that the Directorate of the Organized Crime used to be KOCB before, right? The Kosovo Organized Crime Bureau?

Friedrich: Yes, it's the former KOCB.

Express: Then could you perhaps share with us how many cases until now have been resolved by KOCB, bearing in mind that you have a large amount of money, more than other KPS units?

Friedrich: If you are asking for efficiency or rather for effectiveness, it is very difficult to compare the cost to keep up an organized crime office with the results we have. What we have to understand is that investigating organized crime can only be done in a long-term strategy. It is not unusual that you are investigating undercover for one or two years until you can develop a case. And there's also a considerable amount of money involved to investigate those cases. Therefore, it would not help if I would tell you any number of cases we have solved or we have under investigation. It's the nature of investigating organized crime that this is a long-term task, which can then rapidly develop into arrests, but most probably this will be done case-by-case.

Express: Just to follow up a short question, can you mention at least one case in the past five years that the former KOCB or the Directorate of Organized Crime has started, investigated, indicted and gotten a conviction?

Friedrich: Yes, I can remember at least five cases which have gone to trial last year and have resulted in sentences up to seven years. Also, what we have to remember is that a number of cases are done in co-working and in sharing with police authorities abroad. I can tell you that in 2004, organized crime investigators have seized about 380 kilos of heroine, about 50 kilos here in Kosovo and the rest abroad in working together with police authorities of neighbouring countries. Not all these cases are finished in court yet.

KosovaLive: I am more interested about yesterday evening's event that happened in Mitrovica, about Mr. Ivanovic whose car was blown up. Can you tell us more about what happened precisely and was there any damage besides the car?

Friedrich: As far as we know for now, it was only his car that was damaged. This event happened last night shortly before ten o'clock, that's when I was informed that it happened. I know that nobody was injured and I can tell you that we are investigating this, my counter terrorism task force is investigating it, and we have already deployed a bomb expert to the scene to tell us more.

KosovaLive: Any suspects, any motives, have you found anything?

Friedrich: It would be premature to tell you about this.

RTK: You mentioned three success stories. Could you mention three others where you have failed, because as far as I know you have failed in like a thousand cases?

Friedrich: I don't know where you got the number of a thousand cases. But it's the nature of investigation that if you have a suspect or if you have a suspicion, you investigate it and if this investigation does not lead to an indictment, then you close the case. Because it is the basis of our police work and it is one of the fundamental principles in a democracy that a suspect is not guilty until he is sentenced in court. So not every one of our operations leads to a trial.

AP: Just two points. I don't think I got an answer to my previous question regarding the link between organized crime and politics, specifically in Kosovo, not in general as a concept. Have you got cases which you are investigating involving politicians and links to organized crime? And a second question regarding the Nigerian officer who was killed in Prizren, where did that investigation lead you? Was that terrorism or was it a personal grudge?

Friedrich: You will always get an answer from me, though if you are happy with the answer or not, that might be a different topic. Of course, especially in Kosovo, sometimes organized crime is intertwined with politics, but is also intertwined with terrorism and with extremism. I cannot give you any more details and I ask you to understand this please. As far as the attack on the Nigerian officer is concerned, the status right now is that it is not a personal attack against the Nigerian contingent or against UNMIK.

Bota Sot: With regard to the Nigerian police officer, so far according to the investigation have you been able to shed any light on the motive of the killing? Do you have any recent information on that?

Friedrich: At this time I cannot give you any more information on this case.

Blic: Many politicians and officials have stated that March riots were related to organized crime. Can you tell me any facts regarding the number of resolved cases? How is it possible that you praise the results or outcome of your work, now that you are in a situation where the investigating judge, or the judge who is deciding on indictments refuses or changes your statement, as was the case of Zlatibor Trajkovic in Kosovo Polje?

Friedrich: I wasn't here during the March riots, so I have information only through paperwork. The Directorate of Organized Crime is not investigating the March riots. We have a different organization for that and if you have any questions concerning the outcome of these cases I am the wrong person to ask. I ask for your understanding that you should ask your question to this operation.

Concerning your second question, I am not aware of the case you have mentioned, but it is only natural that sometimes the prosecution or the judge decide to change the indictment because police officers, prosecution and judges may have, based on different levels of information, a different view on an indictment. That's only natural and happens every day. It is not typical only to Kosovo.

BBC Albanian Service: How do you consider last night's incident - as a criminal act, as a terrorist act or an inter-ethnic attack?

Friedrich: Right now I really cannot tell you. We have a number of options and you have named them and the investigation will have to give a clue on this. So far I cannot exclude any of these options.

Express: I have two very short questions. Are you familiar with the case when the former KOCB, now the Directorate of Organized Crime, rejected a request from the CCIU (Central Criminal Investigative Unit) to proceed with a case that happened in the Dukagjini area? And secondly, I wasn't satisfied with my previous answer because you haven't mentioned any cases. Were you referring to the Qamil Shabani, alias Qorri, case? That case is not finished yet and we are not considering it a success because the drugs weren't found. Only 30 kilos were found, not 300.

Friedrich: I am not familiar with the case you mentioned, with the CCIU case. But we have an organizational structure where we have different responsibilities. CCIU is now the Major Crimes Unit. They are investigating different cases than the Directorate of Organized Crime. The Shabani case is still on trial, it is not finished now, you are right. And it would be wrong to assume that these 350 or 380 kilos I talked about would be only related to the Shabani case.

Jeff: Thank you very much.