SaS: Police Failing to Stop ATM Raids Due to Own Crisis

Bratislava, 31 March (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party believes that the Police Corps is failing to address the so-called 'ATM mafia', SaS MP Juraj Krupa told a briefing on Tuesday, adding the situation can be directly attributed to the current state of the police force. Krupa said that he'll demand that Police Corps president Jana Maskarova and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) should appear before the House defence and security committee to report on the real situation within the police force and how they intend to tackle organised crime and corruption. "The number of attacks on cash machines is staggering; there have been 29 in the past year alone," said Krupa, naming all the attacks in the past six months across Slovakia. He stated that ATM mafia cases used to be handled successfully in the past, when the National Crime Agency (NAKA) managed to apprehend the perpetrators. Krupa described the current situation in the Police Corps as poor, claiming that the Office for Combating Organised Crime (UBOK) is probably failing to focus on genuine organised crime or corruption, as it hasn't been very successful in handling these cases. He also criticised the interior minister for dismantling the Police Corps and failing to perform his duties as minister. Krupa intends to raise the issue at a regular session of the House defence and security committee, which is due to take place at the beginning of Parliament's session in April. "After the elections, we can toughen up sentencing for corruption and tax crimes, we can clean up the police and restore its structure so that officers who truly want to serve the state will be able to return, making sure that the state has the upper hand over criminals, because it clearly doesn't right now," stated SaS vice-chair and MP Maria Kolikova. jrg/df