Two minor girls from Tuzla ended up as victims of prostitution, and the whole case was discovered by the police at the end of July this year, while the hearing of the 15-year-old girl followed in August. Klix.ba exclusively publishes details from the victims’ statements, and their accuracy has also been confirmed through expert examinations of electronic devices.
Members of the Police Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tuzla Canton broke up an organized chain of pimping and sexual exploitation of two minors, born in 2009, who, among other things, stayed in the shelter of the Home for Children Without Parental Care in Tuzla.
A total of eight people were arrested in the operation, four of whom are police officers, as well as one university professor. It is about the inspector of the Kalesija Police Department, Besim Kopić, the head of the criminal police department of the Živinica Police Department, Miralem Halilović, and police officers from Živinica, Jasmin Modrić and Dževad Požegić.
Also, former state representative and university professor Zijad Jagodić, as well as Sulejman Šehić and Nedim Avdić were arrested. According to the details of the investigation obtained by Klix.ba, there is a network of local powerful, policemen, restaurateurs and businessmen who, according to the statements of the victims, participated in human trafficking, abuse and corrupt protection of the perpetrators.
According to the testimonies of the victims, Besim Kopić was at the very top, who contracted clients for sexual relations, and the prices ranged mostly from 150 to 500 KM, while he took a “commission” of 50 to 100 KM.
In their statements to the police, the minors gave the names of the persons who were involved in the network. Among them are Jagodić, Halilović, Modrić and Požegić, who knew that they were not of legal age. They described who “protected them from the police”, drove them to the apartment and made arrangements with customers, gave them drugs and gave them a car. They claim that other police officers and well-known people from the local community used to come to the apartments.
Minors also stated on several occasions that they were intimidated and that they would “end up in a juvenile prison”, especially if they did not listen to Kopić, who boasted that he “has his own people in the police”.
According to the details revealed by Klix.ba from the investigation, the first minor victim told the police in August that after escaping from the shelter home in Tuzla, as a 14-year-old, she met Besim Kopić, who introduced himself to her as the owner of the Febi 1 and Febi 2 cafes in Kalesija, but also as a police inspector.
She stated that, even though he knew they were minors, he initially offered her and her friend a job in a cafe and accommodation in an apartment in Kalesija, but that soon he started asking them to dress provocatively and sit with guests.
She claims that Kopić also told them that they must have intimate relations with guests who ask for it, but that they must first get a confirmation from him. Also, the victim stated that customers for sexual services initially paid between 150 and 200 KM, based on the “tariff” that Kopić had established.
According to the testimony, Kopić took 50 KM for himself, while the rest belonged to the victim. Based on the testimony, the first victim had users of sexual services almost every day, with a maximum of three clients per day. According to her confession, she had sexual relations with Kopić on the first day she met him.
She said that Kopić also introduced her to Zijad Jagodić in the cafe, introducing him as a lawyer and company owner, who could give her a lot of money. According to the victim’s statement, she had her first sexual relationship with Jagodić in the private apartment In Vivo in Živinice, where he drove Kopić in a BMW X6.
As compensation for the service, the victim received 500 KM from Jagodić, of which she gave 100 KM to Kopić. After that, according to the victim, she had sexual relations with Jagodić several more times in the mentioned apartment in Kalesija, and he agreed to it even though he knew she was underage. For that, as she claimed, he paid her 200 to 300 KM, of which she gave Kopić 50 KM each.
Audi A3 as a gift
The victim also stated that Jagodić bought and gave her an Audi A3 car, and additionally confirmed that he introduced her and her friend Kopić to several men, including his colleagues, police officers, with whom they had sexual relations for money.
Among other things, the victim said in her testimony that Kopić also met Miralem Halilović, whom he introduced as the chief inspector in Živinice, stating that she had sexual relations with him four times and that he paid her 150 KM, of which she gave Besim 50 KM.
The victim also stated that she had relations with him in the private apartment In Vivo in Živinice, where Halilović arrived in white and blue Škoda police cars, and that they stayed in a well-known discotheque in Srebrenik.
The victim further said that she met a police officer from Tuzla, Dževad Požegić, at the Febi facility in Kalesija, with whom she did not have sexual relations, although he offered her 100 KM, but that her friend agreed to it.
Police officer from Tuzla “tied up customers”
She also admitted that Kopić further “imported” her with the policeman Jasmin Modrić, with whom she had relations in one of the apartments in Živinice, but that she did not take money from him because he “protected her and her friend from the police”, drove and found customers, but also protected them from customers so that no one “touched” them, and that there was also a policeman with him whose name she does not know.
She also said that Modrić introduced her and her friend to other police officers who protected them and “sorted out customers”, approximately ten of them, from whom she charged 150 to 200 KM, and gave Modrić or his colleague 50 or 100 KM of that.
Offering drugs and threats of imprisonment
The second victim stated in her testimony that after escaping from the shelter of the Home for Children Without Parental Care in Tuzla, a waiter, a certain Šemso, offered them a job in a cafe, who then introduced them to Kopić. Not long after that, as she said, initially her friend, and then she too, had sexual relations with Kopić, who also offered her drugs.
She also stated that Kopić threatened her and her friend with juvenile prison and the people who would place them there, if they did not have sexual relations with the customers he arranged for them. She also stated that she entered into relationships with customers that Kopić found for her, at a price of 300 to 500 KM, and that she gave him half of the amount. In addition to the apartment in Kalesija, according to the victim, she also had relations in the apartment located near the gas station on the way to Zvornik, and it was Kopić who drove her to the location in a black BMW X6 car.
She further stated that Kopić also made contracts with customers who are the owners, that is, the bosses of companies, and that there were also people from abroad and his relatives. She also confirmed the allegations of the original victims, that is, her friends, that Kopić introduced them to Halilović, according to whom they had to be good, because he would pay them well and “put on” other colleagues.
Addressing them by their names, the victim said that she had sexual relations with Miralem in the apartment in Kalesija and in the In Vivo apartment in Živinice, and that he paid her. She also said that Besim brought her to the In Vivo apartment, where she would rent the apartment, she would give the worker at the In Vivo gas station her ID card, he would enter it, Besim would give her the money for the apartment, and then Miralem would come to apartment number 11.
She also said that she came to the In Vivo apartments with her friend, who had sexual relations with Miralem’s colleague, in one room, while she and Miralem were in another. She also said that Miralem introduced her to Jasmin Modrić, a police officer from Živinice, and that he told her that he would protect her and her friend. She added that they had a relationship with Jasmin, and that Besim was aware of everything, because as she said, Besim, Miralem and Jasmin agreed in front of them.
According to her statement, Modrić also found her customers, his colleagues from Živinice, and that she was with them in the In Vivo apartments, that he brought her there or that customer would pick her up, but also that Modrić waited in the cafe, and after he finished with the customer, she would give him half of the amount of 300 or 400 KM.
She also said that she had relations with Zijad Jagodić, whom she said was a lawyer from Živinice, stressing that both of them were intimate and that he paid 700 or 800 KM, and that she gave half of that amount to Besim. She said that it happened in an apartment in Višća, and that Jagodić gave her friend a black Audi car.
Minors were driving the car, the police let them go after a call
She also stated that the two of them were driving in that car and that when the police stopped them, they called Besima, Miralema or Jasmina, after which the police let them go. She went on to say that Kopić gave her friend the drug speed, and that it was procured for her by a certain Talih, that is, a person named Sulejman, who is the owner of an auto parts store in Živinice.
She also said that she slept with a friend in that store, that they had sexual relations with her several times and that he paid them 150 to 250 KM for it. She also said that a certain Talih arranged other customers for them, stressing that among them was a policeman from Tuzla, Dževad Požegić, with whom they met in the Discrecija rooms.
Incidentally, the accuracy of the testimony of the minors was determined by the investigators through expert testimony, that is, by analyzing their mobile phones. Analysis of the content revealed that there are memorized phone numbers of Besim Kopić, Nedim Avdić, waiter Šemsa, Dževad Požegić and Talih auto parts. The numbers of the mentioned persons are recorded in the call lists.
Also, certain screenshots were found that confirm the statements from the victims’ testimonies, as well as some photos that could be linked to the statements. The investigators also found video content, voice messages, photos, and Viber and Whatsapp communications in the mobile phones.
(TYPE/Source: Klix.ba/Author: Armin Kedić)
