The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is conducting an extensive investigation into the smuggling of weapons and military equipment from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Republic of France with the intention of selling them on the illegal market and using them to commit criminal offences.

The suspect C.M. was identified within an operative investigation and deprived of liberty, and a quantity of about 10 automatic rifles and ammunition frames was discovered and seized in the area of Orašje.

The mentioned suspect is charged with operating within an organised group and finding illegal automatic weapons in BiH, after which activities would be carried out to hide and smuggle weapons in motor vehicles in order to smuggle the weapons to the territory of the Republic of France and hand them over to persons acting in agreement with the suspect, who would further smuggle the said weapons to the illegal arms market and thus acquire illegal property gain.

As part of this investigation, cooperation was established with partner institutions of the Republic of France.

The suspect is charged with the criminal offence of Illicit Trafficking in Weapons and Military Equipment and Product of Dual-Use under Article 193 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

The motion to order the suspect into custody was moved for the reasons described in Article 132 (1) (a), (b) and c), i.e. due to the risk that the suspect might flee, the risk that, if at large, he could obstruct the investigation, conceal evidence and influence witnesses or accomplices, and commit a new criminal offence or to complete an initiated one.

The motion to order custody was sent to the Court of BiH.