The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the State Investigation and Protection Agency - SIPA, BiH Border Police and the RS MoI, carried out a joint police operation codenamed "Skela-pauk" /pram-spider/.
By order of the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption dozens of police officers carried out searches and arrested suspects at about 50 locations throughout BiH.
During the course of these activities approximately 50 persons were deprived of liberty including more than 10 authorized officers of the BiH Border Police and RS MoI.
Persons who are under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH are suspected of having acted jointly during a long period of time while abusing office and committing the criminal offence of smuggling of goods.
The investigation determined that large quantities of live cattle were smuggled from Serbia into Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus generating illegal property gain in multimillion amounts.
Persons under investigation are suspected of having acted as an organized group thus committing the criminal offense of Abuse of Office or Official Authority, the criminal offence of Giving and Accepting Bribes, Gifts and Other Forms of Benefits and the criminal offence of Smuggling of Goods.
The suspects will be handed over to the Assigned Prosecutor within the legal deadline. The Prosecutor will question them and subsequently decide whether to file a motion for remand in custody or not.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH, along with police agencies in our country, continues the intensive fight against organized crime and corruption by working on cases in which damages caused to BiH budget and citizens are large quantities of money.
This operation will also serve to eliminate those abusing office from the police structures.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH continues its investigation into this matter.