A SENIOR North-East detective is fighting crime in a country beset with a gun and gang culture after years of warfare.

Detective Inspector Dave Scott, of Durham City CID, took up his new appointment less than two weeks after receiving an invitation to work with the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Det Insp Scott, 45, has been made temporary detective chief inspector for his one-year mission. He is co-ordinating a four-strong multi-national team of investigators.

He will help to tackle the country's high crime rate, gang and gun culture and corruption, which have ravaged the country since the Yugoslav wars.

He said: "The opportunity came up at very short notice and I understand it was something of a Foreign Office record to get me there so quickly.

"We work with CID heads across the country, providing help and guidance on how to tackle criminal gangs involved in illegal drugs, weapons smuggling and people trafficking.

"We also help investigate political corruption.

"Our office is in the only secure wing of the mission's Sarajevo headquarters for reasons of confidentiality and security."

Det Insp Scott, who has spent half of his 26 years' service as a detective, added: "We use the same tried-and-tested techniques I would use in my day-job in Durham - but on a much higher plain.

"The work of investigators here is not without risk, but those within the international policing community face no particular threat.

"However, local police chiefs in the regions who make the arrests can be very much in the firing line.

"One was recently blown up by a car bomb and another had a lucky escape when a fuse failed to ignite."

Det Insp Scott will return to Durham after his posting.

He said: "The chance to work with a multi-national task force at this level of crime investigation was quite simply the opportunity of a life-time.

"It was one I felt I could not pass up, although the speed of the switch has left members of my extended family and friends thinking I have disappeared."