Transdniester hands over fugitive criminal to Moldova

Nabbed: Pridnestrovie's police arrested fugitive Mihail Mocanu, 41, and handed him over to their Moldovan counterparts

DUBOSSARY (Tiraspol Times) - A fugitive from Moldova who was hiding out in Pridnestrovie (Transdniester) has been caught and handed over to the Moldovan authorities. The suspect, Mihail Mocanu, was arrested Thursday by PMR national police as they raided his hideout apartment in the city of Dubossary, located on Pridnestrovie's side of the Dniester river.

Mocanu, 41, was sought by Moldovan authorities since April 17, when he was seen speeding away on a bicycle after a daring bank robbery. During the robbery of MobiasBanca, he fired two shots into the air and got away with cash worth US$13,300 (8,380 euros). The bank is 95 percent owned by French financial group Societe Generale.

A warrant for his arrest was issued on April 20, and the leadership of Moldova's Ministry of Internal Affairs officially requested the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Pridnestrovie to help apprehend the fugitive.

Pridnestrovie's national police carrying out the raid on an apartment in Dubossary where bank robber Mihail Mocanu was hiding.

An accomplice, Alexander Lazarev, has already been arrested by Ukrainian police in the port city of Illichivsk, near Odessa in south-western Ukraine.

Arriving under armed escort in Chisinau on Friday, Mihail Mocanu has been charged with the robbery and faces up to 25 years in prison if found guilty.

No "black hole" or safe haven

Pridnestrovie - known in Romanian as "Transnistria" - is misleadingly portrayed by the Moldovan press as a black hole and a lawless separatist state. Not knowing the reality, a number of Moldovans believe this to be true which has lead to a steady trickle of Moldovan criminals making their way across the Dniester river and into Pridnestrovie in the hope of finding a safe haven in which to lay low.

On the average of one per month, they are promptly arrested by PMR law enforcement bodies which today cooperate with their Moldovan counterparts under a number of bilateral agreements signed during negotiations which followed the 1992 ceasefire in the war between the two sides.

Moises Naim, editor of the Washington-based magazine Foreign Policy, warns about criminals who think that Pridnestrovie (Transdniester) is a safe haven, and has urged the government to collaborate with other countries in order to prevent international crime networks from seeking a presence in Pridnestrovie.

" - As long as [criminal] networks find safe havens in locations like Transdniester, Liberia, Ukraine, Cambodia, China, and Russia, the easier they will find it to regroup and regenerate when they suffer a setback," says Moises Naim.

" - In these countries, the political will to fight the traffickers must be generated and supported from the outside. It is up to the less corrupt governments of other countries to bring this pressure and support by promoting openness, transparency, and democracy and by forging effective antitrafficking partnerships with other nations that widen the scope of mutual trust," says Naim.

The still-unrecognized status of Pridnestrovie's statehood prevents the new and emerging country's from forming international partnerships with other nations. Pridnestrovie is currently seeking to end its unrecognized status and obtain international recognition in order to enable it to become a member of Interpol and participate fully in the international war on crime.

See also:
» US foreign policy org: "Moldova is a failed state"
» End of the road for bicycle thief from Moldova
» Ministry of Internal Affairs lists PMR's 10 most wanted