14 people arrested in "Lištica" operation

Police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), in an operation codenamed “Lištica” which began this morning, deprived 14 people of their liberty due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of organized crime in connection with the criminal offenses of illegal trade in excise goods, illegal storage of goods, tax evasion or fraud, and money laundering, SIPA announced, Patria reports.

Facilities at 25 locations in the areas of Grude, Široki Brijeg, Čitluk, Zenica, and Sarajevo were searched. During the search, more than five tons of cut tobacco, about 18 tons of leaf tobacco, three tobacco cutting machines, a large amount of cash, four passenger motor vehicles, more than 800 boxes of cigarettes of various brands without origin, and other items that may serve as evidence in further proceedings were found and temporarily seized, while searches at certain locations are still ongoing.

The persons deprived of their liberty are being brought to SIPA's official premises for criminal processing, after which their further status will be decided in accordance with the instructions of the acting prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, and several persons are being interviewed as witnesses.

The operation was preceded by an intensive criminal investigation conducted by SIPA investigators under the supervision of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, and today's activities were carried out in cooperation with officials from the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of West Herzegovina Canton, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Zenica-Doboj Canton. We thank them for the exceptionally successful cooperation with the aforementioned bodies on this occasion.