CUSTODY MOTION FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS SUSPECTED OF HUMAN SMUGGLING

A prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH will, within the legal deadline, send to the Court of BiH a motion for ordering the following persons into custody:

1.     Warris Zigid, born in 2002, citizen of Iran, apprehended by the BiH Border Police

2.     Kamal Ulldin Arab, born in 2002, citizen of Afghanistan, apprehended by the BiH Border Police.

The aforementioned suspects are under investigation and are charged that in the night hours of 22 August 2022, in the locality of Meterize, municipality of Zvornik, together and in concert with persons known to them from the territory of the Republic of Serbia, in order to acquire unlawful property gain, they took part in the smuggling of eight illegal migrants, citizens of Afghanistan, among them a 7 year old minor child, which is contrary to Article 6 of the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, as well as the provisions of the BiH Law on Border Control.

The smuggling, during which the lives and safety of the migrants were put to risk, was carried out by an inflatable boat, across the Drina River from the direction of the Republic of Serbia towards the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the smuggling was detected and prevented by members of the BiH Border Police at the Public Border Crossing Zvornik and the State Agency for Investigation and Protection - SIPA who used specialist equipment.

During the smuggling and escape attempt, the minor boy fell into the Drina River and was saved from drowning by the quick reaction of members of the BiH Border Police, and the smugglers and migrants were apprehended and placed under control.

The suspects are charged with having illegally transported several migrants across the state border, including the minor child, with the aim of acquiring unlawful financial gain together with the persons known to them and of having acquired illegal financial gain in an amount known to them, thereby committing the criminal offence of Smuggling in persons in violation of Article 189 (4) of the Criminal Code of BiH in conjunction with paragraph 1 thereof.