Croatia playing its part patrolling external EU borders.
Eight Croatian policemen are leaving for Greece where they will join FRONTEX’s operation “Poseidon”, while at the same time Croatian Navy Ship “Andrija Mohorovičić” will sail to the Mediterranean where it will take part in the EU operation “Triton”, according to a report in Telegram.hr on July 30, 2015.
Operation “Poseidon Sea” is headed by FRONTEX, European agency for the protection of EU external borders, and is aimed at combating illegal immigration and other forms of cross-border crime.
Due to the large numbers of illegal immigrants from Asia, the joint operation “Poseidon Sea” has been conducted every year since 2007 in Greece, on the sea border with Turkey.
Croatia has taken part in this operation since 2012, and in July this year it has agreed to send 37 police officers, a vehicle equipped with a thermal imaging camera and one patrol vehicle.
On the islands of Chios and Kos there are already eight Croatian police officers – four members of the mobile unit for state border control, two police officers from Osijek-Baranja County and two police officers from Vukovar-Srijem County.
The second rotation is now leaving for Greece. In addition, one Croatian police officer will go to the island of Lesbos in August.
Along with Croatia, other EU members states also take part in the joint operation “Poseidon Sea 2015” – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom – as well as some of the other countries – Albania, Ukraine, Norway and Iceland – and other EU agencies and international organizations.
Naval forces which are part of the operation Triton will be joined by the Croatian Navy Ship “Andrija Mohorovičić”. The commander of the ship is Stjepan Giljević, while the crew is comprised of members of the armed forces and representatives of the border police.
