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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

77 persons involved in organised human trafficking arrested

Belgrade, 1 June 2007

Director of Police at the Serbian Ministry of Interior Milorad Veljovic said today that as the result of a joint action by the police forces of Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia 77 persons involved in organised human trafficking on the territory of these countries were arrested.

At a press conference held by Veljovic and his counterparts from the other countries which took part in the action, he pointed out that there was excellent cooperation in eliminating this international criminal group which mainly smuggled people from Turkey and Albania into countries of West Europe.

He said that 11 persons were arrested in Serbia, including Vesel Jakupi, one of the organisers of the criminal group which organised the illegal immigration of more than 100 people through Serbia.

Veljovic stressed that through excellent cooperation with police in the region in controlling human trafficking the Serbian Ministry of Interior also cooperated well with the special department of the District Court and Special Prosecutor for organised crime in Belgrade.

According to Veljovic, in the action which was agreed upon autumn last year in Vukovar, 16 criminals were arrested in Croatia, who were responsible for illegal border-crossing by 86 people, while 19 members of the criminal group were arrested in Macedonia who smuggled over 100 people.

Veljovic said that 21 members of the criminal organisation were arrested in Slovenia who smuggled 220 people through Slovenian territory, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina ten persons were arrested, responsible for smuggling more than 130 people.

Croatian Director of Police Marjan Benko said that along with drug trafficking, human trafficking is one of the crimes which provides large profits to criminals.

This action shows that police in the region do not and should not have borders in their operations since criminals do not recognise borders in their illegal activities, said Benko and pointed out the importance of quick and reliable flow of information between police in the region.

Macedonian police official Ivo Kostevski said that the operation was conducted in an extraordinarily professional manner and shows that police forces in this region are ready to safeguard all borders in the region.

Kostevski said that members of the group arrested also smuggled citizens of China and Pakistan through Macedonia.

Police official from Bosnia-Herzegovina Vinko Domancic said that illegal immigrants paid sums ranging from €2,000 to €3,000 to the criminals for smuggling them to various European countries.

Domancic also said that there was excellent cooperation between members of the police forces which took part in this operation which lasted several months, and concluded with arrests made at the end of the last month.

Representative of Slovenian police Robert Slodej expressed expectation that this excellent cooperation between the police of the region will continue in the future, adding that police of the countries involved in the operation also worked well with Austrian and German police.

A large number of false documents, technical equipment, money and various kinds of vehicles used for transportation of illegal immigrants were also confiscated by police in each country when the arrests were made.

The criminal group also used three channels for criminal activates which ended in Western European countries, beginning in Istanbul and moving through Kosovo-Metohija, as well as the territories of the countries whose police forces took part in the action.