A successful international police operation organised and co-ordinated by the Slovak Police Corps' Office for the Fight Against Organised Crime took place earlier this week as a follow-up to a controversial operation involving Turkey in late 2010, the TASR newswire has learnt.
The police apprehended two persons in Slovakia - one Slovak and one Hungarian national. At the same time one Czech was arrested in the Czech Republic. The Czech and Hungarian nationals were detained based on an international warrant issued in Slovakia. Furthermore, the Hungarian authorities seized seven containers – weighing a total of 6.5 tonnes – of acetic anhydride, a heroin precursor. Police have also made two house raids and four searches of other premises, seizing documents, book-keeping records, one illegally held firearm and various kinds of drugs.
In December, the Slovak authorities came under severe criticism following a botched international police operation. Under police supervision, a lorry bound from Dunajská Streda (Trnava Region) to Istanbul was loaded with contraband used in heroin production. The material, which is considered volatile, was supposed to reel in the drug traffickers, but the attempt failed. Instead, the lorry's unsuspecting driver was detained and had to spend four days in a Turkish jail.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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