STA, 10 February 2020 - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested five police officers operating at the north-eastern Gruškovje and Zavrč border crossings with Croatia. It is believed they accepted bribes for stamping the passports of third-country Schengen zone residents to allow them to prolong their stay beyond the permitted 90-day period.
The General Police Administration said Saturday's final sting, which involved more than 50 police officers, was the culmination of a months-long investigation.
The operation included covert surveillance and house searches, including in Austria, and led to the discovery of an international ring that took money for illegally enabling third-country citizens to reside in the Schengen Area.
It turned out that the ring also included five members of the police force who accepted bribes to provide passport stamping for individuals who in fact failed to leave the Schengen zone after the maximum permitted 90-day period before trying to re-enter three months later.
Police representatives told the press that the passports were owned by citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Macedonia who were likely engaged in undeclared work in the EU.
The employment contracts of the officers involved have been terminated, and Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar, who helped coordinate the investigation, has introduced special oversight to check mechanisms for monitoring the work of border police.
It is not yet clear how much the corrupt officers earned with the help of the scheme, but 90,000 euro in cash was discovered during the house searches along with 19 passports ready for stamping.
The five are currently in detention and will be brought before an investigating magistrate.
The General Police Administration said that similar incidents had also occurred in other countries located on the edges of the Schengen Area.
It is expected that the risk of such abuse will finally be eliminated in 2022 when a new system is meant to completely automate the monitoring of entries and exits.
Peter Skerbiš of the General Police Administration's border police sector told the press that the safety of the Schengen Area was not in peril. "The abuse was in fact discovered by border police at other border crossings," he pointed out.
