Two Afghan migrants who were arrested with three others from the same country in February in Bosnia will be deported to Serbia, where they were last registered and where local institutions say they do not pose a threat, Info Migrants reports.
In February 2019 five migrants of Afghan origin were arrested in Bosnia-Herzegovina on charges of terrorism; because of this, the five were considered to pose a risk to national security and thus liable for deportation. Now, two of the five are being deported, announced the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) on Monday.
The Bosnian Service for Foreigner’s Affairs (SPS) and domestic and international security agencies spent months investigating the group. They have decided that the two unnamed individuals should be deported to Serbia, where they were last registered and where local security agencies and institutions claim they do not pose a threat.
Reports say the group were arrested in the Bihac and Sarajevo areas. It’s not yet clear when the decision will be implemented.
No decision yet on other detainees
There has been no decision made as far as the other three Afghans arrested in February are concerned; the director of the SPS, Slobodan Ujic said on Tuesday. He noted that verifying information in such cases is extremely difficult and that a lot of time can pass before countries of origin respond to any biometric data sent.
In recent months, Bosnia has registered greater numbers of arrivals in the country. According to data from Bosnian authorities, 19,500 migrants have arrived in the country since the beginning of the year. This figure is 20 percent higher than the same period last year. Between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants are reportedly in the Bihac zone in the north-west of the country along the border with Croatia and a growing number are also found in Tuzla in the north-east.
Ujic noted that Bosnia is registering between 100 and 150 migrants per day, most of whom Pakistani nationals between the age of 18 and 35. He said 90 percent of them are economic migrants and Bosnia’s goal is to have the same number leave daily as those that come into the country. Ujic claimed that if 150 enter every day and only 60 leave “we have a big problem.”
