UNMIK/FR/0038/01
FEATURE RELEASE - May 25, 2001

Special police

Ready for anything: UNMIK's SPUs

By David Kahrmann

In the Balkans, a mule train heading towards a remote border crossing without cargo probably means it will be coming back loaded down with something it shouldn't be carrying. A few weeks back, members of the Spanish Special Police Unit (SPU) in Pec/Pejė drew the same conclusion. They spotted mules, set a trap and hours later caught both a smuggler and his contraband cigarettes. The mules, by then temporary SPU conscripts, brought the cigarettes hoard down the steep mountain passes to the nearest customs pound.
Spain's Guardia Civil, is just one of ten special units (nine SPU' s and one canine unit) tasked by UNMIK with a variety of difficult roles in Kosovo. There are units from Argentina, India, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Spain and Ukraine now serving in Kosovo. Unlike UNMIK Police, SPUs arrive, live and operate as discrete units. In their home countries, SPUs are primarily used as quick-reaction police deployable at a moment's notice to deal with riots and other types of civil unrest. To ensure similar effectiveness here, UNMIK provides SPUs with camps and services allowing them to deploy rapidly when needed and to be together for training and other exercises.
 
SPU Operations

But capturing mules carrying cigarettes is quite different from what the Guardia Civil does in Spain. Back home, it specializes in crowd control, VIP protection and risky operations. While in Kosovo, it follows Guidelines for SPUs laid out in advance for the activities of all the special police units prepared jointly by UNMIK and UN Headquarters in New York. Contributing countries examine the guidelines before they send their SPUs, explains Kurt Mueller, Special Adviser to the UNMIK Police Commissioner for SPU-related issues.
When here, each SPU develops its programme of activities together with the Regional Police Commander in the region to which it is assigned. In Mitrovica, for example, the recently arrived second contingent of Pakistani SPU' s, is currently acclimatizing to its environment - doing reconnaissance of the area and taking turns on guard duty at Dubrava prison.

SPUs work either independently as a unit or in joint operations with UNMIK Police. In special cases, the office of the Principal Deputy SRSG, will assign a specific task, such as the guarding of the Germia building in Pristina. Typical activities for SPUs in Kosovo are the kinds of tasks they are generally doing in their home countries, like crowd control at sporting events and VIP protection. But they also include patrolling, setting up vehicle checkpoints, weapons searches and seizures and actions to combat smuggling.

SPU and UNMIK Police working together

Last summer, Shaban Manaj, a lawyer and LDK politician, was murdered in Klinė/Klina. The UNMIK Regional Headquarters Investigation Office investigated the case and compiled a list of suspects. The UNMIK Regional Commander for Pejė/Pec co-ordinated a plan to capture all of the suspects through a large operation. Three Spanish SPU platoons, one Ukrainian SPU platoon and the Canine Unit from Gjilan/Gnjilane, as well as "Team 6" from Pristina took part in the operation.

At dawn on February 13, the suspects were given a rude awakening-as SPU entered their houses by force and arrested them. In addition to the suspects, many weapons were seized. UNMIK Police had carried out the investigations, the Spanish SPU had helped with reconnaissance and, during the operation, KFOR had provided backup. By pooling their resources, UNMIK Police and SPU' s carried out a textbook operation.

Note for editors
The full document may be consulted online in English at http://www.unmik.org/. Albanian and Serbian versions can be provided.

For a selection of photographs, please contact Mr Ky Chung at 038 504-604 ext. 5467

Contact: Peter Ellwood
(038) 504 604 Ext. 5471
E-mail: ellwood@un.org