The Europol Union accuses the leadership of the Romanian Police of irresponsibility and chaotic management in the search operations for Emil Gânj, the man from Mureș accused of killing his ex-girlfriend.
After two weeks of fruitless searches, the union publishes a shocking photograph of a police officer’s feet, stating that he spent over 31 hours in the field without proper equipment, without food or water, and without a coherent strategy. The man’s skin became wrinkled due to the prolonged time spent in wet footwear.
"It is not normal to mock people by sending them into swamps, forests, and rough terrain without any protective equipment! (...) It is profoundly unprofessional to have no clear plan, no coherent strategy that pursues the natural objectives in such a situation: locating, isolating, and capturing the offender," the message posted on Monday by the Europol Union on Facebook reads.
The criticisms directly target the way the search for the suspect is being managed, accusing the lack of coordination, absence of a strategy, and chaotic use of available resources.
"It is not normal for these people to be kept for over 20 hours in conditions of extreme physical effort, on hills, mountains, and valleys, while you have drones and helicopters at your disposal, which the institution only shows to the public in PR posts on social networks - in an attempt to cover up managerial incompetence and the real inability to coordinate the capture of a criminal," the union further conveys.
The fugitive remains elusive
Emil Gânj is accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend's house on July 8, fatally hitting her with an ax, then setting the house on fire and disappearing. Since then, he has been sought by hundreds of police officers and gendarmes, including with the help of helicopters, drones, and tracking dogs, but with no results.
Investigators suspect that the suspect is receiving support to hide, complicating the operations.
"The fact that everything boils down to randomly relocating hundreds of police officers in different areas without coverage and without analysis, only to have them return to the starting points, leaving already combed spaces completely uncovered, is clear evidence that the chiefs coordinating these actions lack the experience and competence necessary to efficiently organize a mission of such gravity," Europol warns.
Police checkpoints are mobilized in the counties of Mureș and Bistrița-Năsăud, and the localities where the suspect could be hiding are continuously searched. Law enforcement officers are even checking the trunks of drivers stopped in traffic.