Arrests due to suspicion of collaboration with a drug cartel, followed by a ceremonial welcome and embrace with the Minister of Police – that’s how the recent days unfolded in the lives of the police chief and special forces commander in the entity of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH).
In an operation reminiscent of a movie thriller, on April 22nd, Vahidin Munjic, acting director of the Federal Police Administration (FUP), Mustafa Selmanovic, commander of the FUP special unit, along with three other lower-ranking police officers of this agency, were arrested.
They were among 23 individuals detained by domestic law enforcement, with the assistance of agents from the United States (U.S.) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Europol.
All are suspected, according to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and Europol, of being part of the “inner circle” of Edin Gacanin, a Bosnian-Dutch citizen described by U.S. authorities as “one of the world’s largest drug traffickers” and the leader of the “Tito and Dino” cartel.
What do security experts and a former policeman say?
Organized criminal groups are deeply infiltrated into BiH’s judicial and security system, says Sandi Dizdarevic, a security expert.
Dizdarevic backs up his stance with the recent police operation and the fact that, in the past five months, former top officials of the BiH Court and the Intelligence-Security Agency of BiH (OSA BiH), Ranko Debevec and Osman Mehmedagic, have been arrested.
Counting the five FUP policemen arrested in the latest operation, the number of BiH judicial officials arrested in the last two years on suspicion of collaboration with organized criminal groups rises to 24.
There is a significant problem with integrity in the judiciary and the police in BiH, confirms Safet Music, an expert on security issues. He assesses that this is demonstrated by numerous cases against judicial officials.
Speaking of the connections of judicial officials with persons from organized criminal groups, Music emphasizes that the primary motive is money.
Edin Vranj spent a large part of his working life in the FUP, where he worked as the head of the Criminal Police Department.
“All security institutions in this country need a restart and cleaning, and this job will require brave, honest, and competent people,” said Vranj.
In its Report on BiH for 2023, the European Commission stated that “criminal organizations exploit weaknesses in laws and governance” and that “the police are subject to political interference.”
The report also notes that preventing crime from entering the political, legal, and economic system is of crucial importance and that “urgent measures are needed to strengthen the integrity of the judiciary and restore lost public confidence in its work.”, Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
