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Armed groups smuggle migrants to Croatia

by AI | 11.Sep 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Armed groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina smuggle migrants to Croatia. Most often, criminal groups are organized by Afghans.

The EU is working on a new program to combat migrant smuggling in North Africa. Photo: VINCENZO CIRCOSTA / AFP

MOSTAR – The director of the service for foreign affairs of BiH Željko Laketa warned on Monday that Afghans most often organize armed criminal groups that smuggle migrants to Croatia, and called on the EU to help countries on the migrant route establish border control.

In the last two weeks, two migrants have been killed in mutual clashes, one in Bihać and the other in Sarajevo, which the BiH authorities attribute to the activities of increasingly violent criminal groups among the migrants themselves.

“Unfortunately, they have also become armed groups. The essence is that they are engaged in illegally transferring migrants across borders all the way to the European Union,” Laketa told the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz.

He explained that the number of armed criminal groups among migrants in that country increased after police agencies in Serbia and Hungary conducted several operations.

Criminal groups are most often organized by citizens of Afghanistan. He assessed that the escalation of violence is causing concern and called on the European Union to help Balkan countries establish border control.

“I think that this has become a serious security threat and that the EU must do something to help the countries on the migrant route to prevent it,” Laketa emphasized. (September 9, 2024)