INDICTMENT FILED AGAINST THREE PERSONS FOR INTERNATIONAL SMUGGLING OF SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

A prosecutor from the Section for Countering Human Trafficking and Illegal Migrations filed an indictment against three persons:

1.     Baban Mohammed Kareem, born in 1990 in Iraq, citizen of Iraq, remanded in custody,

2.     Ilhan Onen, aka ‘Doctor’, born in 1986 in Omerli-rep, citizen of Türkiye, remanded in custody,

3.     Emir Njemčević, born in 1972 in Sarajevo, citizen of BiH.

The charges against the defendants are that in the course of 2023, acting in agreement and coordination with persons abroad, especially in the territory of the Republic of Türkiye, as well as with persons located in BiH, foreign citizens and citizens of BiH, they organised, prepared, agreed and carried out the smuggling of a large number of persons, citizens of Türkiye of different ages and genders, among whom were also children and minors, and smuggled them from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia and other EU countries for considerable financial compensation.

After their arrival in BiH, they would organise their accommodation in the area of Sarajevo and other cities and transport them to the area of the Una-Sana Canton, especially to the area of Bihać and Velika Kladuša, from where they would organise their illegal transport and smuggling outside legal border crossings, to the area of the Republic of Croatia and further to EU countries, for monetary compensation in the amount ranging from EUR 2,500 to EUR 19,500 depending on the number of smuggled persons and on their final destination.

In order to ensure the collection of money for smuggled persons, the defendants would withhold their documents and during the search of the apartments and facilities they used, more than 500 personal documents of the Republic of Türkiye were found.

The charges against the defendants are that they became members of a group or association for human smuggling in order to acquire unlawful property gain, that they illegally transferred and facilitated the illegal transfer of at least 500 persons, citizens of Türkiye, among whom were minors, and that they acquired unlawful property gain by committing the criminal offences of Organizing a group or association for the purpose of perpetrating the criminal offence of smuggling of migrants set forth in Article 189a and the criminal offence of Smuggling of persons set forth in Article 189 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

The prosecution will prove the allegations of the indictment by calling about 30 witnesses, 6 expert witnesses and experts, as well as by submitting several dozens of evidentiary materials.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.