Four people were arrested on Wednesday in the area of Una-Sana Canton (USC) due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they committed the criminal offenses of human trafficking and organizing a group or association for the criminal offense of smuggling of migrants.
The operative action codenamed “Trieste” in the USC was carried out by police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), and a total of five locations were searched, in Bihac, Cazin and Velika Kladusa. On that occasion, nine mobile phones, laptops and other items that could serve as evidence in criminal proceedings were discovered and temporarily confiscated.
The action was carried out on the orders of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of BiH, in cooperation with the OSA of BiH, the Service for Foreigners and the Ministry of the Interior.
After the criminal investigation in the SIPA premises, the arrested will be handed over to the further jurisdiction of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH within the legal deadline. An operation with the same code name was carried out in Croatia, where four people were also arrested.
There are grounds for suspicion that the arrested persons smuggled illegal migrants from BiH through Croatia to other EU countries. The smuggling of 45 migrants was prevented in this case.