Guns in Croatia: Police call on citizens to hand over weapons without penalties

ZAGREB, Oct 13 (Hina) – The Zagreb shooting on Monday when a policeman working for the government as a security guard was seriously wounded and the lives of another two were jeopardised, has again drawn attention to the issue of arms left over from the 1990s war, with police urging citizens to hand them over without penalties.

Since 2007, when a campaign to hand over weapons left over from the war was launched, citizens have surrendered more than 5,000 illegal weapons, more than 330,000 explosive devices, more than 9,000 weapons which they can legally possess, around 5.5 million pieces of ammunition, and slightly more than 5,000 kilograms of various explosives.

Nonetheless, experience shows that citizens still hold weapons unlawfully and in that way put their own and their children’s safety in danger, the head of the Police Directorate’s Explosives Unit, Marijan Nikolau, said.

He called on citizens who have “forgotten” to hand over their weapons or who still keep it for whatever reason to hand it over instead of being penalised if weapons are found in their possession.

Nikolau appealed to citizens not to bring weapons to police stations but to dial 192 to arrange the time and place where members of the police unit for explosives will safely take over the weapons.

It is not known how many weapons left over from the Homeland War Croatians hold, but Nikolau believes that the amount is smaller than before considering the amount of weapons already surrendered.