ACCUSED IN THE CASE OF ORGANIZED SMUGGLING OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ADMITTED GUILT BY AGREEMENT
12.10.2022. 14:05The accused Ahmed Iftkhar (1977), a citizen of Pakistan, who is charged in the case codenamed Lipa with organized smuggling of a large number of illegal migrants, has pleaded guilty to the criminal offenses charged by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office. A sentence of 3.5 years of imprisonment was proposed for the accused, as one of the highest sentences imposed so far for this criminal offense.
As part of the agreement, confiscation of illegal property gain in the amount of about BAM 78.000 was also proposed.
In the case codenamed Lipa, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with partner agencies and law enforcement institutions, detected, deprived of liberty and prosecuted 16 persons, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as foreign countries, who acted as an organized group for recruiting, smuggling, hiding and transporting across the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Republic of Croatia and further towards the EU countries a large number of illegal migrants who had no basis for legal residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Some of the accused have agreed to conclude plea agreements, and court proceedings against others are ongoing. Significant cooperation with partner institutions from the region and abroad was achieved.
The processing of the Lipa case had a significant impact on the decrease of criminal offenses in the field of illegal migration, especially in the area of the Una-Sana Canton.