Indictment filed for migrant smuggling

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The accused Ismail Faisal (2001), an Afghan citizen, is charged with organized smuggling of migrants from the territory of Serbia into Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption has filed an indictment against: Ismail Faisal, born in 2001 in Kabul, Afghanistan, an Afghan citizen, who is in custody.

The accused is charged that, in order to gain illegal property benefit, he agreed to participate in the smuggling of several persons, illegal migrants, mostly citizens of Afghanistan, who did not meet the conditions for legal entry and stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is 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.

According to the indictment, the accused, at the end of August 2020, in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, met a group of about 40 illegal migrants, including minors, from whom money was taken for smuggling, and then led a group of 10 migrants by boat across the water border on the Drina River, thus exposing their lives and safety to danger.

After crossing into BiH, the accused was discovered and apprehended by police officers of the BiH Border Police, and the competent services took care of the illegal migrants.

The accused is charged with illegally transporting several migrants across the state border, including persons under the age of 18, thereby committing the criminal offense of human smuggling under Article 189 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

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