SIPA

On 22 October 2012, the Director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) Goran Zubac and Director of the Civil Defence Service of the Republic of Srpska Milimir Doder signed the Agreement on Cooperation between these two institutions.

This Agreement shall formalise successful cooperation between SIPA and Civil Defence of RS, which was initiated in 2009 and it is reflected in the support in Mine Actions, identification, transport, neutralisation and safekeeping of explosives and other dangerous substances.

A particularly important segment of the cooperation between SIPA and Civil Defence of RS are so called EOD operations including removal, depositing and destruction of detected explosive devices, which are evidence in criminal proceedings before the Court of BH and other judicial institutions of BH, based on a final court decision.

The Agreement signed at the SIPA premises also defines cooperation in the area of training and equipping teams for removal and destruction of explosive devices, as well as a transfer of capacities for the storage of explosive devices and dangerous substances.

The significance of the signed Agreement is best illustrated by the fact that for the first six months of 2012 police officials of SIPA, based on an order by the Court BH, seized and deposited circa 100 kg of commercial explosives, 20 kg of destructive military explosives, circa 100 landmines, dozens of hand grenades and grenade guns, 24 mortar shells 120 mm calibre, large quantity of slow-burning fuses, around 300 electric detonator caps and other types of unexploded devices and mine-explosive devices.

All these explosive devices and substances, upon the order by the Court BH, until the finalisation of the court proceedings and pronouncing final court decision, shall be transported and forwarded for safekeeping to the Civil Defence of RS.