CUSTODY MEASURE PROPOSED FOR PERSON SUSPECTED OF SMUGGLING LARGE QUANTITY OF CIGARETTES

Custody has been proposed due to the risk of the suspect’s flight, since the suspect is a Montenegrin citizen and he would become unavailable to the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina should he leave Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Having questioned the suspect, a Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina put forward a motion with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina seeking the measure of custody to be ordered against the following suspect:

-         Mevljudin Kalač, born in 1977 in Rožaje, a citizen of Montenegro.

This suspect is under investigation in a case jointly conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ITA BiH) and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), in which one of the largest quantities of smuggled cigarettes in Bosnia and Herzegovina was discovered, with its market value estimated at around 1.6 million BAM.

By use of special equipment, the smuggled cigarettes were discovered in a cargo motor vehicle driven by the suspect, in which other goods were also transported.

Custody has been proposed for the reasons stipulated in Article 132, paragraph 1, item a) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, due to the risk of the suspect’s flight, since the suspect is a Montenegrin citizen and he would become unavailable to the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina should he leave Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Intensive investigation in the case continues.