Bosanska Gradiska, a city with the scars of war crimes and ethnic cleansing, where some of the perpetrators were convicted and others went on the path of crime, is a hotspot for drug and weapons trafficking, and recently also of migrants. This is stated in one of the latest reports of the Global Initiative to Combat Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).
“Today, Bosanska Gradiska represents a “gate” at the entrance to Schengen, and criminal groups from this city have become more organized in the past ten years and have connected with networks in Croatia and Serbia, as well as in Montenegro and other European countries,” said Anesa Agovic, coordinator of GI-TOC for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
International support
GI-TOC recalled the international police operation “Crown” (”Kruna”) from 2016, during which it was discovered that criminals, including members of the group of one of the biggest European drug lords, Darko Saric, were crossing borders with documents made on the basis of data stolen from BiH citizens, and issued by the services in Bosanska Gradicka and Srbac.
In February 2019, in the “Vitorog” operation, members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska (RS) arrested five people from Bosanska Gradiska and one from Trebinje for unauthorized production and trafficking of cannabis and synthetic drugs and confiscated skunk, heroin and firearms. In December 2020, the RS police seized around 460 kilograms of skunk in Bosanska Gradiska.
Special action
In the area of Bosanska Gradiska in December 2022, a special operation “Fugitive” (”Bjegunac”) was carried out, in which six people were arrested, including an employee of the Intelligence and Security Agency in BiH, and again for the unauthorized production and trafficking of drugs.
“We warn that police cross-border cooperation is weaker than that between criminal groups and that greater cooperation between police agencies, including the exchange of intelligence and joint operations, is crucial,” Agovic pointed out.
Mafia murders
GI-TOC also analyzed the cases of murders and mafia assassinations in this city, from that of Goran Kotur in 2003, to the assassinations of Milan Vujicic in 2015 and Senad Kobilic in 2018.
“According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were ten professional mafia-style assassinations in the RS in the past decade, all of which remained unsolved. Two of these murders, committed in 2015 and 2018, and aimed at actors of the region’s underworld, took place in Bosanska Gradiska. Security experts say most of these killings follow the same pattern: the victim is followed to identify vulnerabilities, and the only items left after the killing are a burned vehicle and a destroyed weapon. Assassins typically use automatic rifles or snipers and, in most cases, are likely to come from a neighboring country,” the GI-TOC report added, Avaz reports.
E.Dz.
