Special forces raid homes of Elmedin Karišik and Seid Hadžibajrić, recently released by prosecutor Džermin Pašić

(Patria) - Members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton raided the homes and apartments of Elmedin Karišik and Seid Hadžibajrić this morning on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with money laundering, Istraga.ba has learned.

The operation is being carried out under the order of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, and Karišik and Hadžibajrić formed an organized criminal group together with the detained former mayor of Stari Grad Municipality, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, as well as with Sani Al Murda and his sister Barbara Pekić. Al Murda and Pekić are on the run.

As a reminder, Elmedin Karišik and Seid Hadžibajrić were arrested in May last year as part of the Start operation, which was carried out under the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton. At that time, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić and his associate, the secretary of the Stari Grad Municipality, Alma Destanović, were also arrested. Ibrahim Hadžibajrić and Alma Destanović remained under the jurisdiction of the KS Prosecutor's Office, while Karišik and Seid Hadžibajrić were under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, i.e., state prosecutor Džermin Pašić.

While the KS Prosecutor's Office kept Ibrahim Hadžibajrić in custody the entire time, state prosecutor Pašić decided not to oppose the release of Elmedin Karišik and Seid Hadžibajrić.

Namely, businessman Karišik was released from custody after the Court of BiH accepted his defense's proposal to post bail in the amount of 346,000 KM. Karišik's defense attorney, both then and now, was Mirsad Crnovršanin, a former associate of state prosecutor Dubravko Čampara, who has since opened a law firm with Čampara's wife, Maida.

Read the full text here.