Details of the "Puppet" case: Murders, bank robberies, post offices, organized crime...

On the occasion of the first-instance verdict in the "Puppet" case, which imposed over 100 years in prison, the BiH Prosecutor's Office has provided the media and the public with details about the case and the operation that preceded the arrest of the convicted, Patria reports.

Operational teams of SIPA and the BiH Prosecutor's Office began working on the "Puppet" operation in the utmost secrecy in mid-2011. The goal of the operation was to identify and prosecute perpetrators of the most serious criminal offenses and leaders of organized crime in Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, and throughout BiH. The suspects targeted by the operation formed a multi-ethnic criminal organization whose branches operated in both BiH entities.

A team from the BiH Prosecutor's Office worked on the case together with dozens of police officers from SIPA, the BiH Border Police, the MUP of RS, the Federal Police Administration, and OSA BiH provided assistance.

Special investigative measures, surveillance, and telecommunication interception were used in the investigation.

This is the most extensive organized crime case ever prosecuted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even in the region.

During the trial, hundreds of material evidence items were submitted:

- During robberies and attempted robberies, two of which were carried out in the East Sarajevo area and two in the Sarajevo Canton area, members of this criminal organization often used clothing, equipment, masks, and vehicles with police markings, resembling police uniforms and equipment.

- The accused in this case are charged with committing a series of serious criminal offenses as members of an organized criminal group with clearly divided tasks and roles, with the aim of acquiring illegal financial gain, as well as serious murders that had severe consequences for the security of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The criminal offenses for which this organized criminal group is charged have had consequences throughout BiH and neighboring countries. A number of the accused are citizens of BiH and Serbia, and some of the accused are being prosecuted or serving sentences in Serbia.

- Excellent cooperation was achieved in this case with the prosecutor's offices, courts, and police in the Republic of Serbia, and the work on this case represents an excellent example of interstate cooperation in the fight against organized crime.

- The indictment filed in 2013 included 32 individuals, making it the largest indictment in an organized crime case ever prosecuted in the judiciary of BiH, and even the Western Balkan region.

- A total of six murders and attempted murders, unsolved for years, were solved in this case, committed in the style of mafia liquidations, in armed ambushes, so-called "waiting ambushes," or by remote detonation of explosive devices in the Sarajevo and East Sarajevo areas, which instilled fear and insecurity among citizens.

- Robberies of banks, cash transports, and post offices totaling over 10 million KM were solved.

- Among the 32 accused, three were police officers, so this operation dealt a decisive blow to illegal conduct within police structures.

- Faced with strong evidence, some of the accused pleaded guilty by agreement and were sentenced to several years in prison.

- In previously concluded proceedings based on plea agreements or in separate proceedings within the case codenamed "Puppet," 55 years in prison have already been irrevocably imposed.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office states that the operation codenamed "Puppet" showed that our country has a prosecutor's office and police agencies capable of fighting the most severe forms of organized crime. This fight has continued intensively after this case, with the aim of ensuring the rule of law and security for the lives of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The operation dismantled the largest criminal organization in BiH, which resulted in a decrease in the number of unsolved serious criminal offenses after 2013.

Criminal offenses for which the accused in the "Puppet" case are charged, among others:

- The murder of Vladimir Mačar in Pale in January 2008, using an explosive device mounted on a previously stolen vehicle. Vladimir Mačar was killed, another person, Milan Vlaškić, died from his injuries, and a bystander, Rade Magazin, was seriously injured and later died from his injuries, and several people were wounded.

- The murder of Boris Govedarica, committed in August 2007 near the shopping center in Lukavica. The murder was carried out by shooting from automatic weapons, specifically two submachine guns, into the victim with more than 15 bullets, leading to immediate death. The murder was committed at a busy street intersection, posing a great danger to the safety of citizens.

- The murder of Zoran Golub in August 2008 in the "Sport" cafe in East Sarajevo. The victim was killed in a catering establishment, where more than 40 bullets were fired at him from two submachine guns, posing a great danger to the lives of all present persons in addition to the murder.

- The separate case against Mladen Ždrale concerned the triple murder in the Vraca settlement in November 2005, when Milorad Todorović, Radomir Janković, and Esad Šenderović were killed, and Murat Komarica was wounded. Mladen Ždrale was irrevocably sentenced to 15 years in prison for aiding and abetting this crime, and according to the collected evidence, the perpetrator of the murders was Boris Govedarica, who was killed in 2007 in East Sarajevo.

- The planning and two attempted murders of Đorđe Ždrale, committed during 2006 in the East Sarajevo area, by shooting at Đorđe Ždrale, who was seriously wounded by several gunshots during the first attempted murder.

- The robbery of a cash transport vehicle of Privredna banka Sarajevo, amounting to 2.2 million euros (approximately 4.4 million KM), which occurred in the Nedžarići settlement in Sarajevo in June 2006, when the vehicle transporting the money to the airport was robbed.

- The robbery of a cash transport vehicle of Pavlović International bank from Bijeljina, which occurred in August 2005 in the Han Pijesak area, by intercepting the vehicle transporting the money, from which approximately 1.8 million KM was stolen.

- The attempted robbery of money from Nova banka a.d. Bijeljina, East Sarajevo branch, in November 2005, amounting to approximately 2.2 million KM, when security guards transporting the money, after being shot at, used their weapons and wounded the robbers in the exchange of fire, after which the robbers fled towards Sarajevo.

- The robbery of approximately 670,000 KM from Post Office 2 in Sarajevo in June 2009, when the post office money was stolen in an armed robbery, and the perpetrators fled in a van, which they later set on fire.