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272
35
1995, 26 July
Report of the Intelligence Dept. of the SVK General Staff to the Security Directorate of
the VJ General Staff on the implementation of the covert operation Sword-1 - the use of
biological agents for the poisoning of foodstuff s delivered under cover to the ARBiH 5th Corps and intended to cause mass disease of its troops and knock them out of action.
____________________
INFORMATION
Execution of mission during Operation Sword
In early July the Command of the SVK General Staff issued a directive on the execution
of Operation Sword related to off ensive action against the ARBiH 5th Corps in order to
crush the latter. Th e start of Operation Sword is planned on 15 July in the early morning
hours. 48
Th e forces of Spider Command, parts of the 21st and 39th Corps, and the Special Units
Corps will be committed to the operation.
Within the scope of the operation (during its preparation) the SVK commander has
decided to use biological agents by poisoning consumer goods (fl our, sugar, oil, liquid
dish-washing detergent) to be sold through underground channels to the 5th Corps (of
the ARBiH) in order to cause mass sickness of the troops and knocking them out of
action.
Th e incubation lasts 5-7 days. [Th e normal dose was tested, by injection into liquid food,
on a defector from the ustashi49 army, M.G., not known to the international humanitarian
organization. Th ree days later the symptoms listed below appeared, and lasted 6 days. He
was medically treated, which probably reduced the duration of the reaction.] 50 Th e agent,
a powder, is produced in Republika Srpska. If taken in larger quantities, depending on
the resistance of the body, it can cause a lethal outcome. In normal use it causes stomach
diseases, diarrhoea, headache and cramps in the stomach. No disease cases have been
recorded until 22 July 1995.
Th e provision of the goods for sale to the 5th Corps and the injection of the agent meant
to put personnel out of action was entrusted to the Intelligence Centre of the VJ General
Staff Intelligence Directorate in Topusko. Colonel NIKOLA ZIMONJA and lieutenant
colonel MILAN KRKOVIĆ, and the businessman NENAD MIŠEVIĆ from Glina, were
involved in the mission.
Th e Security Department of the SVK General Staff was responsible for preparing the plan
for the counterintelligence support of the operation (Sword-1) and, aft er that, providing
48 For the plan of the operation see Appendix II, doc. no. 27.
49 In Serbian sources members of the Croatian armed forces are mainly called ustashi (aft er the allies of the
Germans in World War Two).
50 Th e notes from the original document are given in square brackets.