CUSTODY MOTION FOR TURKISH CITIZENS SUSPECTED OF PEOPLE SMUGGLING

After interviewing the suspects, the prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in charge will send to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina a motion to order the following suspects into custody:

1.      Murat Guler, born in 1997, citizen of the Republic of Türkiye

2.      Nihat Bajram, born in 1974, citizen of the Republic of Türkiye.

The aforementioned suspects were apprehended on 23 August by the BiH Border Police, Border Police Unit Gorica, after 13 persons, citizens of Türkiye, were discovered when smuggling 13 persons, citizens of Türkiye, which is in contravention of Article 6 of the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, as well as the provisions of the BiH Law on Border Control.

The smugglers and the smuggled persons were discovered at the very border line in the general area of Posušje, after which they were apprehended and placed under control.

The suspects are charged with having smuggled foreign citizens in order to acquire unlawful property gain. They brought them to an inaccessible area near the state border, where they were supposed to be illegally transferred to the territory of the Republic of Croatia and the EU.

They are accused of having, together with persons known to them, participated in an attempt to illegally transfer a number of foreign nationals across the state border, with the aim of acquiring unlawful property benefits, thereby committing the criminal offence of smuggling of persons in violation of Article 189 (1) of the Criminal Code.

The custody measure is proposed because these are foreign nationals who would become inaccessible to the BiH judiciary if they leave BiH, as well because they could hinder the investigation, conceal evidence, and influence witnesses or accomplices if they stay at large.