BIH AND CROATIAN PROSECUTORS’ OFFICES CARRY OUT JOINT OPERATION TO FIGHT ORGANIZED SMUGGLING OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

The operation, codenamed "Trieste", involved persons suspected of organized smuggling and transport of migrants from the territory of the Republic of Turkey through the countries of the Western Balkans to the Republic of Italy.

Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption coordinates the work and activities of SIPA police officers, who are conducting searches and deprivations of liberty at several locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The activities of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina are being carried out in coordination with the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (hereinafter: USKOK) of the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia (hereinafter: DORH), and it is an operation aimed at detecting and prosecuting an organized smuggling chain for the smuggling of migrants, in which citizens from several countries participate as perpetrators. At the same time, searches and deprivations of liberty are being carried out in Croatia.

This is an extensive investigation, which has identified and located smugglers who were part of the smuggling chain for the transport of migrants from the Middle East and high migration risk countries, from the territory of Turkey, through the Western Balkans’ countries and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, all the way to the territory of the Republic of Italy.

According to the evidence gathered, the perpetrators took large sums of money for smuggling, as illegal material gain, and organized the smuggling down to details related to the accommodation, illegal transport and smuggling of migrants across state borders, in which members of the smuggling chain would take over migrants from a certain area and transport them further to their final destination.

This operation is one of the most comprehensive regional actions in the fight against illegal migration and smuggling of migrants, which were carried out in 2020.

Upon the completion of these activities, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia will be able to provide more details.