BY ORDER OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, OPERATIONS CODENAMED ‘MASTER’ AND ‘TRUCK’ ARE BEING CARRIED OUT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TAX AND CUSTOMS EVASIONS IN LARGE AMOUNTS AND CORRUPTIVE CRIMINAL OFFENSES

By order and coordinated effort of two Prosecutors from the Special Department for Organised Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, who are managing investigations, several hundreds of police officers from SIPA, Border Police of BiH and ITA BiH, have been conducting searches and apprehending a large number of suspects for the criminal offences of organised crime, customs and tax evasion with corruptive elements since early morning hours. It is estimated that a multimillion damage was inflicted to the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By order of Prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, extensive operations codenamed ‘Master’ and ‘Truck’ are being carried out. The operations are being carried out in the areas of Sarajevo, Brčko and Tuzla region and they involve a larger number of natural and legal persons suspected of organised crime related to the illegal import of textiles from abroad to the territory of BiH, perpetration of organised crime, tax and customs evasions, as well as corrupt criminal offences of receiving and giving gifts or other forms of benefit.

Evidence was collected that the suspects were committing offences continuously for a period of about 3 years and that the amount of evaded tax and customs duties by one truck amounts to several tenths of thousands of KM (BAM). It is estimated that the said organised crime inflicted damage to the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina by large amounts of money, which surely exceed hundreds of thousands of KM (BAM).

Activities in the field will be carried out during the day, after which the apprehended suspects will be brought to the Prosecutors on the case, where they will be questioned, and decisions on further activities regarding detention measures or prohibition measures for the suspects will be made.

The ‘Master’ and ‘Truck’ operations are the decisive activities of prosecution, police and tax institutions of our country in combating criminal offences that have elements of financial crime and corruption, which are causing damage to all citizens of BiH.