INDICTMENT FILED AGAINST FIVE PERSONS CHARGED WITH ORGANISED SMUGGLING OF MORE THAN 150 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS

A prosecutor from the Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking Section of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, within the fight against organised illegal migration, filed an indictment against:

- NAIM DŽAFEROVIĆ, born in 1976 in Sarajevo, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

- MUAMER VELIĆ, aka “Vela”, born in 1973 in Sarajevo, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

- KENAN MUSLIĆ, born in 1979 in Sarajevo, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

- AHMET KULOVIĆ, aka “Kula” and “Kulo”, born in 1957 in Goražde, citizen of BiH,

- ADIS ŠAKOVIĆ, aka “Šaka”, born in 1980 in Sarajevo, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is alleged against the defendants that they, as members of an organised criminal group for smuggling of people, acted in collusion and coordination with to them known organisers of smuggling of persons abroad and that on several occasions in the course of 2023 they received and allowed the stay of the smuggled persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The aforementioned illegal migrants who were smuggled into Bosnia and Herzegovina were collected by members of the group in the border areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro, and then illegally smuggled to the area of Bratunac, Goražde and Čajniče. The defendants would also collect migrants who had crossed the Drina River by boat and transport them to the area of Sarajevo and Goražde, where they would be accommodated until their smuggling to the Republic of Croatia and further to their final destinations in the EU countries was organised.

According to the collected data, the defendants smuggled at least 150 illegal migrants in this way and obtained a large unlawful financial benefit for themselves and other persons.

The committed smuggling is contrary to Article 6 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as the BiH Border Control Law.

According to the indictment, the defendants were caught by police officers in the commission of criminal offences on several occasions. Thus, the defendant Naim Džaferović, acting within the group, was discovered and prevented by SIPA during the smuggling of four citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India in the area of Gradiška. Among other things, the defendant Ahmet Kulović is charged with having received and accommodated four smuggled persons, citizens of Pakistan, in a house in Goražde, who were found during the search by SIPA members, while the defendant Adis Šaković was caught by members of the BiH Border Police during the reception of six Pakistani citizens in the area of Čajnica near the state border.

The defendant Muamer Velić is charged with the illegal possession of a certain amount of the narcotic drug “Cannabis”, which was found on him during a search in Sarajevo.

The defendants are charged with having committed the criminal offence of organising a group of people or an association to commit the criminal offence of smuggling migrants set out in Article 189a and the criminal offence of smuggling of persons set out in Article 189 of the Criminal Code of BiH, in conjunction with Articles 29 and 53 of the same Code, and the defendant Muamer Velić - the criminal offence of possessing and facilitating the consumption of narcotic drugs set out in Article 239 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.