According to current intelligence information from the security services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the weapons found on Friday with the arrested and detained Afghans in the area of Donji Svilaj near Odžak were most likely intended for their settlement with other migrants.
The Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad Nešić, claims, revealing that in this action of the Border Police and SIPA, during which two improvised camps and a certain amount of weapons were discovered, was conducted in cooperation with the police of Serbia and its intelligence services.
Recall that the Border Police and SIPA on Friday found a larger number of migrants in two improvised camps in the Donji Svilaj area in the municipality of Odžak, near the border with Croatia, in the border zone, where a certain amount of firearms and ammunition was discovered.
It was found, as announced, with 12 migrants from Afghanistan, who were then placed under the supervision of the relevant institutions to determine all the circumstances. Nešić emphasizes that domestic competent services will try to expand this investigation to find additional weapons that migrants most likely still possess.
And this latest case only confirms the story that no one has taken seriously so far, that there are serious security challenges from illegal migrations because we do not know who is entering our country and with what intentions – Nešić said.
Security Problem
Slobodan Župljanin, Dean of the Faculty of Security and Protection from Banja Luka, says that the increasing presence of weapons among migrants traveling the Western Balkans route should alert all relevant services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in the region to determine how the weapons came into their possession, and what were the intentions of these armed migrants.
As he says, the situation with the migration crisis, which has been going on for years, is very complicated but also increasingly problematic for all countries that have not adopted certain legislative acts, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The issue of illegal entry of migrants into Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been systematically resolved. This situation has only been further complicated by the non-signing of an agreement with Frontex. We need to solve these things as soon as possible because even this latest case shows that this issue is becoming an increasingly serious security problem. How do they even enter Bosnia and Herzegovina? Who is helping them? Where did they get weapons and why do they need them? These are all questions that competent authorities should answer as soon as possible – Župljanin said.
He points out that this is not the first time that weapons have been found with migrants. On several occasions, the same was discovered with migrants from the area of Bihać, and in August of this year, the special police of Serbia found a large number of migrants and a larger quantity of weapons, including automatic rifles, in a forest belt towards the border with Hungary.
The police then seized five assault rifles, five pistols, over 1,500 bullets of different calibers, and hundreds of foreign passports.
All those entering Bosnia and Herzegovina should be checked. If that is not possible, they should be returned. There are increasingly cases of armed clashes among migrants and groups they form. In some parts of Serbia, but also Croatia, they wanted to organize village or civic guards for that reason – says Župljanin.
If a number of migrants, as he adds, enter a country with weapons, then it is the question of all questions, why do they need it.
Župljanin wonders what their motives are, whom they will attack, whom they will defend against, and why.
Hidden Intentions
I am worried that there may be some hidden intentions, abuses of these migrants in some terrorist actions – says Župljanin for Glas Srpske.
He adds that special attention should be paid to criminal groups that organize their transfer.
This problem was recently pointed out by retired member of the Croatian MUP Željko Cvrtila, stating that it is difficult to assume that someone from Syria or Afghanistan carried weapons through all countries and was never arrested or searched. He also warned that the migrant population is apparently ready to accept and use weapons.
This is a very bad and dangerous trend, according to Cvrtila.
Although I have been pointing this out since 2015, that among people fleeing war, there are also those with other intentions, no one listened. Now it is probably more obvious and pronounced – he emphasized.
This was also pointed out in one of the latest reports of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, which states that the arms trade has increased sharply since the start of the war in Ukraine, and that armed people are increasingly noticed on migrant routes, including the Western Balkans, armed smugglers of people.
They emphasized that in 2022, various quantities and types of weapons were seized: from firearms and ammunition to tear gas sprays, stun guns, and cold weapons. In addition to smugglers, Frontex emphasizes that migrants are increasingly armed and resort to mutual clashes or the use of weapons against other individuals, but
also official authorities.
There have been several examples of migrants and smugglers using weapons against police and border officials. This is a threat that will probably gain importance in the future – the report said.
The source of the weapons is increasingly Ukraine, from where, as emphasized, weapons that are usually used only by the army are increasingly coming into the hands of criminals, but also migrants.
However, they increasingly use technology, such as 3D printers. It is about “invisible” weapons made from parts in private workshops whose trace cannot be traced. Components for this weapon can be legally purchased on legal markets.
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network BIRN in September this year published how in this story about migrants and weapons, significant roles are played by Albanian criminal groups, primarily those from Kosovo and Metohija. They, as BIRN writes, supply weapons to smugglers, but also migrants themselves.
Kosovo and Metohija are one of the channels, but they probably also have local partners in other Balkan countries – BIRN said. They add that after the conflict in Horgoš in November 2022, the Serbian police, in addition to weapons, also found a cap with symbols of the terrorist KLA.
Source: Glas Srpske
