Bosnian Mafia

Bosnian mafia
Founding location Bosnia and Herzegovina
Territory The Balkans, Western Europe, United States, Canada, Scandinavia
Ethnicity Bosniak, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats
Criminal activities Drug trafficking, gambling, cigarette smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, illicit antiquities trafficking, extortion and weapon trafficking

The Bosnian Mafia (or Bosnian organized crime) is the body of illegal gangs and criminal organisations operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina and within the Bosnian diaspora. Bosnian organised crime figures operate mostly in Europe. Bosnian organised-crime groups are involved in a wide range of activities, including drug trafficking, gambling, cigarette smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, illicit antiquities trafficking, extortion (often under the cover of ostensible security and insurance companies) and the arms trade. Smuggling revenues are between €150 million and €300 million.[1]

Organised-crime groups and activities

The Bosnian Mafia can be broadly divided into four categories – the Bosniak Mafia, the Bosnian Serb Mafia, the Bosnian Croat Mafia and many local organised-crime groups. The Bosnian Mafia groups are involved in a wide range of activities; one of their more notorious activities occurred in 2003 when they smuggled and sold 250,000 Zastava M70 Yugoslav-made AK-47s to Iraq.

The federalist government of Bosnia and Herzegovina makes fighting organised-crime groups extremely difficult. Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two largely independent entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska – both of which have their own capital, parliament, president and police force. Due to the poor cooperation between law-enforcement agencies in the two regions, criminals can often evade prosecution simply by moving from one to the other. Mafia groups from neighbouring countries (particularly Serbia and Croatia) often base their operations in Sarajevo, due to its proximity to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, there have been some efforts to increase collaboration between the two regions. In 2006 the European Union established the State Investigation and Protection Agency. SIPA is a Bosnian federal police agency with authority in both regions, and is under the direct administration of the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH MIS).

Key people

See also

References

  1. ↑ Griffiths, Hugh (21 February 2005). "Investigation: Will Europe Take on Bosnia's Mafia?". Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 22, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.