INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST FOREIGN NATIONALS ACCUSED OF INTERNATIONAL SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS

Two persons, nationals of Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively, are charged with organized smuggling of a larger group of illegal migrants of Afro-Asian origin across the river border on the Drina River.

Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against the following persons:

- Arman Afghan Fareedi, born in 1997 in Afghanistan, an Afghan national who is currently remanded in custody, and

- Amjid Khan, born in 2000 in Pakistan, a Pakistani national, who is currently remanded in custody.

These accused persons are charged with acting in a mutual agreement as members of an organized group for smuggling of people and in accordance with a joint plan with members of the group known to them, as they were conducting organized smuggling of illegal migrants who do not meet the conditions for a legal entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina. The migrants were smuggled by boat across the Drina River, which is the border line between the Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, for a pre-arranged amount of money, all for the purpose of acquiring unlawful material gain. 

The perpetrators were detected and prevented from committing the aforementioned criminal offence in an action conducted by the members of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the course of which six illegal migrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan were found on the banks of the Drina River near Zvornik and their further smuggling was prevented, whereas the perpetrators of this criminal offence were deprived of liberty.

The aforementioned accused persons are charged with the commission of the criminal offence of Organizing a Group or Association for the Purpose of Perpetrating the Criminal Offence of Smuggling of Migrants, referred to in Article 189a of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in conjunction with the criminal offence of Smuggling of Persons, referred to in Article 189, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.