Investigation started against suspected people smugglers

BELGRADE - The Office of the Prosecutor for Organised Crime launched on Thursday an investigation against 10 people suspected of smuggling migrants through Serbia and into Hungary and proposed that most of them be placed in custody.

The suspects were arrested on Wednesday and the investigation was ordered after they had been interviewed, prosecutor Miljko Radisavljevic has told Tanjug.

The investigation is based on suspicion that they formed an organized group for criminal activity, that is illegal crossing of the national border and people smuggling, in January 2014.

The suspects are: Tibor Vera, Miroslav Stefanovic, Sabo Norbert, Mario and Slobodan Temunovic, Dusan Bokonja, Anstazia Guti, Bato Gabor, Sebastijan Miskoljci and Vojislav Kuzmanovic.

The group is suspected of smuggling 92 people from Sirya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Asian countries into Serbia and to Budapest in Hungary, for which they charged EUR 1000-1500 per person.

The prosecutor's office proposed that 8 of the suspects be remanded in custody, while Dusan Bokonja and Vojislav Kuzmanovic should be forbidden from leaving their place of residence and Serbia.

Radisavljevic says the case was started thanks to cooperation with the Italian prosecutor's office, which provided information about migrants discovered in Italy.

The suspects, who mostly come from Subotica and Novi Sad, were arrested in coordination with the Hungarian police and the anti-organised crime agency.

Photo Tanjug, M. Jelesijevic (archive)