Excise Fraud: Indictments for Illegal Tobacco Trafficking

The Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption has filed an indictment against Kraljević Svemir (born 1977), who is charged with the criminal offense of Illegal Trafficking of Excise Products.

Kraljević Svemir, born 01/10/1977 in Srebrenik, is accused of having, in July 2015, with the intention of placing products on the market that he knew were not marked with control and tax stamps as prescribed by BiH legislation, procured a larger quantity of tobacco, which he kept in the house he used.

In the house, a bag with 20 kg of finely cut tobacco, six cardboard boxes of leaf tobacco "Strips", weighing a total of 947 kg, five boxes with 46,800 filter tubes for tobacco "DB Tabaco", 50,000 filter tubes for tobacco "Veda Companerus", and a tobacco cutting machine with 10 spare blades were found.

According to the indictment, the accused is charged with cutting and packaging the tobacco into filters, all in order to sell it as a finished product on the black market.

According to current legislation and regulations, the sale of each kilogram of tobacco on the black market results in the evasion of nearly 100 KM in excise duties and taxes, causing damage to the state, the budget, and all citizens of BiH.

The indictment has been forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.

An indictment has also been filed against Lukić Siniša, born 11/11/1993 in Doboj, a citizen of BiH. According to the indictment, the accused is charged with having, in July 2015 in the town of Šamac, after procuring a larger quantity of tobacco with the intention of placing it on the market, kept the tobacco in the house where he resides, cut and packaged the tobacco into bags for sale on the so-called black market. During the search of the house, 23.23 kg of finely cut tobacco, 30.83 kg of leaf tobacco, as well as two tobacco cutting machines were found.

The accused Lukić is charged with illegally placing on the market, i.e., selling products that were not marked with control and tax stamps in the manner prescribed by the tax legislation of BiH, thereby committing the criminal offense of Illegal Trafficking of Excise Products from Article 210a of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.