JOINT OPERATION OF BIH AND SWEDISH PROSECUTOR’S OFFICES IN FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME, INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND MONEY LAUNDERING

The activities are being carried out within the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and judicial and police agencies of the Kingdom of Sweden, with the coordination of EUROJUST.

Acting on an order of a Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and within the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), an Investigator of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently in the field, coordinating the activities with police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), who are conducting searches of facilities and deprivations of liberty at three locations in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the assistance of the Republika Srpska Ministry of the Interior.

The searched facilities are under the surveillance of police officers, and detailed searches of a house/apartment, auxiliary rooms, ancillary facilities, vehicles, as well as the search of electronic devices, computers and telephones are underway, all with the aim of gathering evidence for the conduct of the proceedings in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Kingdom of Sweden.

The persons under investigation are suspected to have jointly participated in the commission of several criminal offenses, in which injured parties are victims of human trafficking from extremely vulnerable population, and the commission of the said criminal offenses resulted in large material gain, which was then put into financial operations with the aim of its legalization, and thus the criminal offense of Money Laundering was committed.

The aforementioned criminal offenses were committed on the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Kingdom of Sweden, which resulted in the formation of the Joint Investigation Team.

The committed criminal offenses pertain to the labour exploitation of the injured parties, fraud and abuse of social security rights, and the amount of unlawfully acquired material gain reaches at least 3.9 million euros.

The suspects are charged with the commission of the criminal offense of Organized Crime, referred to in Article 250 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in conjunction with the criminal offense of International Human Trafficking, referred to in Article 186 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the criminal offense of Money Laundering, referred to in Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the interest of the investigation carried out by the Joint Investigation Team, as well as the proceedings conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Kingdom of Sweden, we cannot provide more details and information to the public and the media at this time.