The director of the Office for Foreigners in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elko Laketa, said that mainly migrants from Afghanistan create armed criminal groups whose main activity is the illegal transfer of people across the borders to Croatia. He appealed to the European Union to assist the Balkan countries along the migrant route in their efforts to strengthen border control, the Hina agency reported, as quoted by BTA.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has seen a sharp increase in migrant violence in recent weeks, with two people killed in two separate clashes – one in Bihac and the other in Sarajevo. The authorities link these incidents to the increasingly aggressive actions of criminal gangs operating in the migrant community. “These groups are already arming themselves and actively participating in the illegal crossing of the borders to the European Union”, says Laketa in an interview with the newspaper “Dnevni avaz”.
He stressed that the number of armed criminal groups among migrants in the country is growing significantly, especially after police operations against illegal migrant networks were carried out in Serbia and Hungary. Laketta is adamant that the situation poses a serious threat to security, and called on the EU to take measures to support the Balkan countries to prevent further deterioration of the situation. According to him, the migrants do not intend to settle in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but seek to cross to Croatia and other EU countries.