CUSTODY MOTION FOR TWO SUSPECTS IN THE CASE CODENAMED “ZIP”

After questioning the suspects, a prosecutor in charge from the Section for Combating Human Trafficking and Illegal Migrations sent a motion to the Court of BiH to the following suspects into custody:

1.     Selma Gubaljević, born in 1976 in Tuzla, residing in Gradačac, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina

2.     Sead Avdić, born in 1968 in Gradačac, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The suspects are under the investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and are charged with organising and taking part in the smuggling of a large number of illegal migrants from the territory of Türkyie, who arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina by regular airlines and who were then transported from Sarajevo to the Gradačac area, and then, by freight motor vehicles, smuggled to the territory Republic of Croatia and further towards Germany and EU countries.

According to the collected evidence, the suspects charged large sums of money for the smuggling of migrants, including children and minors, and several suspects were involved in the smuggling process, who organised the accommodation and transport of migrants, including truck drivers on international transport routes.

The custody measure has been requested due to the risk that the suspects could obstruct the investigation, conceal evidence and exert influence on witnesses or accomplices by being at large.

This operation is the result of international cooperation between the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and partner law enforcement agencies. The partner institutions of Croatia are prosecuting the suspects who are in that area.

The suspects are charged with the criminal offences Organising a group or association to commit the criminal offence of migrant smuggling set out in Article 189a, in conjunction with the criminal offence of Smuggling of persons set out in Article 189 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

The motion for ordering custody was sent to the Court of BiH, where a hearing is scheduled in which the prosecutor in charge will explain the custody motion in detail.