On Sunday, police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency in Banja Luka, conducting operational activities by order of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, deprived one person of his liberty due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that he had committed the criminal offense of “Unauthorized trade in weapons and military equipment and dual-use products”, prescribed by the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will be handed over to the further jurisdiction of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina after criminal processing and questioning as a suspect.
During the search of residential and auxiliary premises and movable property used by a person deprived of liberty, SIPA police officers discovered and temporarily confiscated 43 hand grenades, among which there are hand grenades with a plastic body, black color, and hand grenades with a metal body, green color, 50 TNT bullets of 200 grams each, 20 TNT bullets weighing 200 grams in plastic casing, four TNT bullets of 100 grams, 61 pieces of electric detonator caps, a mobile phone with improvised PVC-coated wires and a detonator cap installed, two pieces of explosives, an automatic rifle PPŠ marked “EC 455” with the corresponding frame and 40 bullets of caliber 7.62 mm, three automatic rifles with the corresponding frames, a military rifle “PASP”, with optics and the corresponding frame and silencer, a manually modified PAP firearm, a “GSM” brand pistol, caliber 7.65 mm with the corresponding frame and eight pieces of bullets, one thousand pieces of military ammunition caliber 7.62 mm, 294 pieces of ammunition 5.56×45, a roll of slow-burning stick about 1.20 meters long, two anti-aircraft bullets caliber 20 mm and other items that can serve as evidence in the further proceedings.
Unauthorized holding, hiding and trafficking of military weapons represents one of the highest and most dangerous threats to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because it is about assets whose very existence outside the control of the state produces constant, unpredictable and systemic threats. This weapon is not only dangerous at the moment of use, but by its very existence creates a latent threat to the lives of citizens, public order, constitutional order and international security. Its illegal hiding and offering on the market seriously violates the fundamental principle of the rule of law by excluding the legitimacy of the state over the means of force and opens up space for the most serious forms of crime, including terrorism, organized crime and mass violence. Due to the destructive potential, impossibility of control and unforeseeable consequences that can occur in a very short period of time, this phenomenon requires an urgent, decisive and comprehensive institutional reaction.
According to the results of the investigation so far, the mentioned military weapons, explosives and other equipment were intended for further sale and smuggling to the countries of the European Union, with the aim of obtaining illegal property benefits.
SIPA continues to work on establishing all the facts related to the above-mentioned criminal offense, as well as work on preventing all forms of crime, with a special emphasis on the unauthorized trade in weapons and military equipment and dual-use products.
(TYPE/Source: Federalna.ba)
