INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST TWO PERSONS FOR ORGANISED SMUGGLING OF LARGE QUANTITIES OF CIGARETTES

A prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against the following persons:

- BOGDAN MIRKOVIĆ, aka "Boban", born in 1977, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and

- GORAN STOJISAVLJEVIĆ, born in 1972, a citizen of the Republic of Croatia.

According to the allegations in the Indictment, the accused Goran Stojisavljević is charged with organising a group of persons for organised smuggling, which was organised for the purpose of unauthorised international procurement, transfer and sale of excise goods - tobacco products (cigarettes) from Montenegro and Kosovo to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and further to the countries of the European Union.

Bogdan Mirković and other persons from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro joined the aforementioned group, and after procuring larger quantities of tobacco products-cigarettes from Montenegro and the Kosovo area, they would follow the instructions of the accused and hide the cigarettes in tanker trucks on several occasions, all in order to further sell the goods-cigarettes to persons known to them in the countries of the European Union. The aforementioned accused persons did all of the above for the purpose of acquiring unlawful material gain. The second accused person was using the money obtained by committing the criminal offence and he tried to conceal its nature.

During the search conducted on 19 July 2021, the first accused Mirković was deprived of his liberty, as he was carrying out the transport of cigarettes upon the instructions of and as organised by the accused Stojisavljević, and a larger quantity of cigarettes was found and seized, namely 247,500 packs of various brands of cigarettes which were not marked with excise stamps prescribed by the tax legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the market value of which exceeds a million BAM.

These accused persons are charged with the commission of the criminal offence of Organising a Group or Association for Smuggling or Distribution of Goods on Which Duties Were Not Paid, referred to in Article 215, in conjunction with the criminal offences of Smuggling of Goods, referred to in Article 214, and Illicit Trade in Excise Goods, referred to in Article 210a of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas the accused Stojisavljević was additionally charged with the criminal offence of Money Laundering, referred to in Article 209 of the same Code.

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