INDICTMENT ISSUED WITHIN OPERATION CODENAMED “CENTAR”; TOTAL OF 7 PERSONS CHARGED WITH HAVING ORGANISED GROUP FOR SMUGGLING PERSONS AND SMUGGLING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS THROUGH BIH TERRITORY

The accused, including three foreign nationals, are charged with having smuggled at least 46 illegal migrants and acquired illegal property gain in the amount of at least KM (BAM) 70.000.

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

1.      Usman-Ali Maqsood Ahmed aka “Ali”, born in 1993 in Pakistan, citizen of Pakistan, in custody

2.      Alen Amin aka “Kaka”, born in 1985 in Iraq, citizen of Iraq, in custody

3.      Raheem Javed, born in 1994 in Pakistan, citizen of Pakistan, in custody

4.      Anel Čomor aka “Ramo”, born in 1981 in Mostar, citizen of BiH

5.      Adela Čomor, born in 1981 in Stolac, BiH citizen

6.      Anna Dumančić, born in 1983 in Sarajevo, citizen of BiH

7.      Aziz Husković, born in 1962 in Stolac, citizen of BiH

The indictment was issued within an operation codenamed “Centar” /Centre/, jointly conducted for several months by the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and the Border Police of BiH, together with other partner agencies in BiH and foreign countries.

The indictment alleges that the first accused and the second accused, as organisers of the group, and the third accused as a member of the group, falsely represented themselves as migrants in order to move among migrants and to establish contacts with persons willing to pay higher amounts for their illegal smuggling to EU countries and at the same time to avoid being detected by prosecution authorities.

The accused would take over migrants on their illegal entry into BiH, mostly in the area of Zvornik, Višegrad and Bijeljina, transport them to BiH, accommodate them in hidden locations and smuggle them to the territory of the Republic of Croatia, most often via Bihać, Livno, Ljubuški or Čapljina areas, where they would hand them over to other persons or instruct them how to illegally cross the border outside the official border crossings.

The investigation showed that during 2018, the accused smuggled at least 46 illegal migrants, mostly citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and India, and acquired illegal property gain of at least KM (BAM) 70.000.

The accused acted contrary to Article 6 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, and the security situation in BiH was compromised by the crimes committed.

The accused are charged with having committed criminal offences of Organizing a Group or Association for the Purpose of Perpetrating the Criminal Offence of ‘Smuggling of Migrants’ in violation of Article 189a of the Criminal Code of BiH, in conjunction with the criminal offence of Smuggling of Persons referred to in Article 189 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

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