INDICTMENT FILED AGAINST TWO AFGHAN CITIZENS FOR SMUGGLING MIGRANTS AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING

A prosecutor of the Special Department for Organised Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption filed an indictment against:

-       Amanullah Ishakil aka “Boxer”, born in 2001 in Afghanistan, citizen of Afghanistan, in custody, and

-       Qais Khan, aka “Tiger”, born in 2001 in Ningahar, Afghanistan, citizen of Afghanistan, in custody.

The allegations against the defendants are that in the period between June 2021 and 24 February 2022, in order to acquire unlawful property gain, they illegally transferred a number of migrants from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the territory of the Republic of Croatia and the EU for the agreed monetary compensation. In the immediate vicinity of the Orašje border crossing point, they would find trucks in the parking lot waiting to cross the state border and hide migrants in the cargo spaces of the trucks without the driver’s knowledge, and this way they illegally transported a large number of migrants across the state border.

The accused Qais Khan aka “Tiger” is charged with having organised himself the reception of four migrants, including minors, in a rented house in the immediate vicinity of the Orašje border crossing point, and monitored suitable trucks that were waiting at the state border crossing point, with the aim of unnoticeably placing into them migrants for their illegal transfer, in which he was prevented by police officers during the search of the house.

The defendants are charged with having exploited a minor male, a foreign citizen, for the purpose of his sexual exploitation during 2021 in a rented house near the Orašje border crossing point, in such a way that they would use force and threats and take advantage of his helpless state, and physically, mentally and sexually exploited him on several occasions, and then audio-video recorded the same act on the cell phone, threatening the victim that they would kill him and that if he escaped, they would share the recording with others on publicly available servers, and in this way established control over the victim, all for the sake of his sexual exploitation and further abuse. The defendants kept the victim locked in the house during their stay, until he managed to escape and ask for help.

The defendants are charged with having committed the criminal offence of smuggling of persons in violation of Article 189 in conjunction with the criminal offence of international human trafficking under Article 186 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation, which confirmed it.