Eight people arrested for selling forged documents to criminals

At the order of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, eight people were brought in and deprived of liberty in an operation code-named "Kruna", and the acting prosecutor with a team of associates is on the ground in Banja Luka where she coordinates the work of several dozen police officers of the MUP of RS who are carrying out the operation, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The case code-named "Kruna" relates to an extensive investigation into the illegal trade of identities of BiH citizens and the forgery of public documents of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the needs of members of organized criminal groups from other European countries.

In a coordinated operation, police officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, early this morning, at the order of the prosecutor from the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption, located and, in the area of Banja Luka, Gradiška and Sanski Most, placed under surveillance, brought in and deprived of liberty a total of eight persons.

The suspects are charged with, since May 2013, in the area of the city of Banja Luka and the municipalities of Gradiška and Srbac, as well as the wider area of western and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, contrary to the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data and contrary to the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, unauthorized sale of personal data of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina that are protected by law.

According to the collected evidence, the suspects sold personal data contained in ID cards and passports as public documents and other public data records to foreign nationals known to them, for the purpose of creating forged documents with real data, which were used by members of criminal groups and clans from Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Bulgaria, who are linked to the commission of the most serious criminal offenses in the field of organized crime.

In this way, through the committed abuse, personal documents with real data of BiH citizens were created, which were used by perpetrators of the most serious criminal offenses. As part of the activities, a female police officer was also deprived of liberty, suspected of assisting in the creation and obtaining of such documents.

Through the aforementioned illegalities, the suspects acquired illegal property gain in amounts of several tens of thousands of convertible marks, and caused enormous damage to BiH citizens whose data were misused.

Simultaneously with the deprivation of liberty, searches are underway at ten locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while, based on requests from the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, search and deprivation of liberty activities in the territory of Croatia and Slovenia are being coordinated with USKOK and the Special Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime of the Republic of Slovenia.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, conducted long-term and thorough investigative measures and actions provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH and collected evidence of the suspects' responsibility.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH, together with partner agencies, continues the intensive fight against all forms of organized and cyber crime, and the conducted operation code-named "Kruna" represents the most complex operation covering criminal offenses of organized and cyber crime at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.