Afghan national (19) smuggled migrants across the Drina

(Patria) - The suspect was apprehended while illegally transporting 10 migrants, citizens of Afghanistan, including minors, across the Drina River from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After questioning the suspect, the acting prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office submitted a proposal to the BiH Court for the detention of the suspect Ismail Faisal, born in 2001 in Kabul, a citizen of Afghanistan.

The suspect was discovered and apprehended by police officers of the BiH Border Police when he was smuggling a total of 10 illegal migrants from Afghanistan by boat across the Drina River, for the purpose of illegal financial gain. These migrants did not meet the conditions for legal entry and stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and were being smuggled further towards EU countries.
These actions are contrary to Article 6 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as the valid laws in BiH.

After being apprehended, the suspect was handed over to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, and the BiH Service for Foreigners' Affairs took custody of the discovered illegal migrants. The detention proposal was submitted due to the risk of the suspect absconding, as he is a foreign national who would become unavailable to our country's judicial authorities if he left Bosnia and Herzegovina. The suspect is under investigation for the criminal offense of smuggling persons under Article 189 of the Criminal Code of BiH. The investigation in this case is continuing intensively.