SIPA

Police officials of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in cooperation with members of the Indirect Tax Authority B&H, MoI of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and MoI of Western Herzegovina Canton, carried out the operation codenamed “Brend”.

This is one of the major operations to fight organised crime in B&H resulting in apprehension of 11 individuals due to grounds for suspicion of having committed criminal offence of organised crime in conjunction with criminal offences of non-payment of tax, tax evasion or fraud, etc. The investigation established that the organised criminal group through its unlawful activities acquired illegal material gain of over BAM 11.6 million.

The Operation “Brend“ attracted great attention of B&H media, which were reporting on the SIPA’s activities throughout the day as well as media attention of countries from the region and beyond.

The Operation also attracted the attention of wider B&H public and on this occasion, numerous MPs, delegates and ministers from different government levels of B&H gave their reactions. Some security experts also praised the operation.

Armin Kržalić from the Centre for Security Studies B&H in his statement given to BHT1 said that every operation against organised crime in B&H is welcomed. “It is absolutely irrelevant whether the operation is carried out before or after the elections. What is important is the aim, and it is the fight against organised crime. This operation has shown that police bodies, in this case SIPA, has the will, knowledge, resources and wants to fight against organised crime, " Kržalić said.

Special praise for the operation “Brend“was given by the Austrian Embassy in B&H to SIPA. Ottavio Bottecchie, Attaché of the Austrian MoI to B&H, said that this type of complex cases often require international police cooperation in order to shed light on all the important events related to the case. He expressed willingness to cooperate and support further investigation.