Four persons arrested in BiH in major domestic police and Europol operation targeting child pornography

The Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska, in cooperation with Europol and police services of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and North Macedonia, is conducting an international operational action "Mosaic 2023" aimed at preventing sexual exploitation of children.

As stated in the official announcement of the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska, members of the High-Tech Crime Unit of the Criminal Police Directorate of the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska, in cooperation with police administrations in Prijedor, Doboj and Bosanska Gradiška, arrested four persons.

These are individuals with initials D. D. from Prijedor, Z. T. from Bosanska Dubica, B. J. from Modriča and Ž. M. from Teslić.

They are suspected of having committed the criminal offense of "Exploitation of children for pornography" in the previous period.

"Acting on orders from the competent courts, searches were conducted at four locations determined to be used by persons linked to the commission of the said criminal offense, and during that time, means of committing the criminal offense were found and seized, namely: mobile phones, laptops, USB sticks, memory cards, SIM cards and other devices for storing digital data, as well as other items that may be linked to the commission of the criminal offense," the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska stated.

The arrested individuals are suspected of having published and exchanged material of sexual abuse and exploitation of children via social networks and communication groups, as well as having contacted children, sending them and inducing them to produce pornographic material.

"The initial information that led to the discovery of the perpetrators was provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children," the police statement also said.