CUSTODY PROPOSED FOR PAKISTANI CITIZEN SUSPECTED OF SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS ACROSS DRINA RIVER WITH FATAL CONSEQUENCE

Having questioned the suspect, a Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina put forward a Motion for Custody with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The measure of custody was proposed for the following suspect:

- Ibtisam Elahi Iqbal, born in 2000 in Guiranwala, a citizen of Pakistan.

The aforementioned suspect is included in the investigation of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and he is suspected that, by prior agreement with persons known to him, in order to obtain unlawful material gain for himself, he accepted, agreed to, and personally participated in an illegal transfer across the state border (the Drina River) from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that he helped and facilitated the smuggling of a total of eleven illegal migrants, by transporting them in a damaged and inadequate boat intended for a smaller number of people, as a result of which the boat overturned on the Drina River, after which illegal migrants washed up on the bank near Bratunac, whereas one migrant disappeared in the river, and he is being searched for and presumed to have drowned.

Smuggling of illegal migrants who do not meet the conditions for entry and stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina in this area is extremely risky because of the danger to the safety of the smuggled persons.

The suspect was brought before the Prosecutor in charge of this case, who, having questioned the suspect, put forward a Motion for Custody under Article 132, paragraph 1, items a) and b) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, due to the risk of the suspect’s flight and the danger that, if at large, the suspect might hinder the investigation, conceal evidence and influence witnesses or accessories.

The illegal migrants have been handed over to the jurisdiction of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.