CUSTODY PROPOSED FOR AFGHAN CITIZEN SUSPECTED OF SMUGGLING OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ACROSS DRINA RIVER

The suspect was deprived of liberty during an illegal transportation of ten (10) migrants, citizens of Afghanistan, including minor children, across the Drina River, from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Having questioned the suspect, the Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in charge of this case has put forward a motion with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina seeking the measure of custody to be ordered in relation to the suspect Ismail Faisal, born in 2001 in Khabul, a citizen of Afghanistan.

The suspect had been discovered and deprived of liberty by the police officers of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina while, for the purpose of acquiring unlawful material gain, he had been smuggling by boat across the Drina River a total of ten (10) illegal migrants from Afghanistan, who did not meet the conditions for a legal entry and stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who were intended to be smuggled further to EU countries.

The said actions are in contravention of Article 6 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and in violation of the applicable laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the deprivation of liberty, the suspect was handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas the discovered illegal migrants were turned over to the care of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The motion for custody has been put forward due to the risk of the suspect’s flight, in view of the fact that the suspect is a foreign citizen who would become inaccessible to the judicial authorities of our country if he left Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The aforementioned suspect is under investigation for the criminal offence of Smuggling of Persons, referred to in Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Intensive investigation in the case continues.