After 14 days on the run: Adem Karamuja arrested in Ošve

Members of the ZDK Ministry of Interior today at around 1:00 PM arrested 34-year-old Adem Karamuja in Ošve, Maglaj municipality, confirmed by the ZDK Ministry of Interior, reports the Patria news agency. 

-As we previously informed the public, over the past few days, police teams of the Ministry of Interior of the Zenica-Doboj Canton have been undertaking operational measures and actions to locate the person K.A., for whom an operational search was launched due to reasonable suspicion that he committed the criminal offenses of "Endangering Security" under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Causing General Danger" under Article 323 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the criminal offense of "Polluting Drinking Water and Foodstuffs" under Article 236 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the ZDK Ministry of Interior. 

After the arrest, Adem Karamuja was taken to the official premises of the Ministry of Interior of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, where a criminal investigation was conducted. During the following day, he will be handed over to the jurisdiction and further proceedings of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of ZDK.

Karamuja had been on the run since August 7. On that day, a quarrel broke out among residents in Ošve over the local water supply, and firearms were used. After that, he hid for two weeks, then announced that he would come to Ošve this morning and surrender to the police.

For the record, the ZDK Ministry of Interior initially withheld information regarding the use of firearms, but after media pressure, the sequence of events was published on the official website. As explained by the ZDK Ministry of Interior, on the night of August 7, Adem Karamuja and Jasmin Batanović polluted the local water supply by pouring fuel, firing two shots after an argument with residents who wanted to disconnect them from the water supply due to unpaid obligations to the local community. They fled by vehicle in an unknown direction, and the search has been ongoing since then.

An operational search was launched for Adem Karamuja, and searches were conducted at several locations in the Maglaj and Zenica areas. In the Maglaj area, the vehicle in which he and Jasmin Batanović left after the incident in Ošve was found. Batanović was located and arrested.

Karamuja arrested in Operation Damask 

Karamuja was arrested as part of Operation Damask in 2014, and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed an indictment against him and 11 other individuals for becoming members of an organized terrorist group and unlawfully participating in armed conflicts in the territory of Syria and Iraq.

The indictment states that members of this group collected money and left Bosnia and Herzegovina with the aim of joining the so-called Islamic State.