Indictment Filed Against TK MUP Police Officers for Procuring Minors

(Patria) - The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton has filed an indictment against eight individuals, who were arrested on October 29, 2025, and are in custody, due to reasonable suspicion that they committed the extended criminal offense of human trafficking related to the exploitation of two girls born in 2009 for the purpose of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation.

The indictment was filed against four individuals who, at the time of the commission of the criminal offenses, were officers of the Police Administration of the Ministry of Interior of Tuzla Canton: Besim Kopić (51), Miralem Halilović (46), Jasmin Modrić (30), and Dževad Požegić (55), as well as against Šemsudin Kadrić (39), Zijad Jagodić (61), Sulejman Šehić (67), and Nedim Avdić (41).

The indictment has been submitted to the Cantonal Court in Tuzla for confirmation. The competent court has been proposed to extend the custody measure for these individuals within the legally prescribed period after the indictment is confirmed.

The investigation against these individuals, following their deprivation of liberty, was conducted in a period of less than three months, and the indictment is supported by numerous material evidence, testimonies, expert reports, and results of other investigative actions carried out in the previous period.

The team of prosecutors and investigators from the Criminal Police Sector of the Ministry of Interior of Tuzla Canton, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, continues to conduct intensive and extensive investigative actions to determine additional circumstances regarding individuals who could be linked to these criminal offenses. The public will be informed of the investigation results in a timely manner.

Kopić, Kadrić, Halilović, Modrić, and Šehić are charged with having, in the period from April 2024 to the end of July 2025, recruited, induced, transported to various locations, handed over to other persons, and concealed two girls, victims of human trafficking, for the purpose of exploitation through prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, and they sexually exploited them and gave them money for it.

Jagodić, Požegić, and Avdić are charged with having, in the aforementioned period, sexually exploited the girls and paid them for it, although they were aware that they were minors and victims of human trafficking.

The girls have been placed and cared for in social welfare institutions, where they are provided with all necessary and essential health and psychosocial protection.

Given the nature of the case and the criminal offenses, the actions that are part of the incrimination in this proceeding, as well as the necessary need to protect the minors who are victims of serious criminal offenses, and the fact that after the indictment is filed and confirmed, the court proceedings begin, which, in accordance with the criminal legislation in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are closed to the public, the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton will not and cannot provide any additional information or statements regarding the case related to this indictment.

Any additional communication with the media and the public, regarding the case in which minors are victims of serious criminal offenses and sexual exploitation, would be contrary to the provisions of domestic regulations and international conventions such as: the Law on the Protection and Treatment of Children and Minors in Criminal Proceedings of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in Article 219a defines the criminal offense of violation of child privacy.