ICTY FUGITIVE GOTOVINA ARRESTED

UNCLAS ZAGREB 001930 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, S/WCI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KAWC PREL HR SUBJECT: ICTY FUGITIVE GOTOVINA ARRESTED ¶1. (SBU) According to media reports December 8, Spanish Authorities on the Canary Islands arrested ICTY Fugitive Ante Gotovina on December 7. ICTY Head of Office in Croatia Thomas Osorio confirmed for us that Gotovina had been arrested. The Croatian State Prosecutor's Office told us that they expected Gotovina to be extradited to The Hague in the next 24-48 hours. ¶2. (SBU) Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic told us that the arrest was the result of months-long cooperation between Croatian and Spanish authorities. Bajic said that the Croatian Intelligence Agency (OA) and Counter Intelligence Agency (POA) were involved in the effort, together with officials from the ICTY. Bajic emphasized that this arrest marked a major step forward for Croatian law enforcement, as no word of this effort had leaked to the public during the multi-month operation. ¶3. (SBU) This information was also confirmed independently by Croatian intelligence services. FRANK