The Prosecution does not have a single case regarding the alleged Croatian spy affair, but several, Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadic said on Friday, adding that several files are also classified as secret.
“In the first phase of our investigation, we determined that they didn’t take part in the recruitment of people. When it comes to the second phase – the investigation of Bosnia’s Security Minister for abuse of office in connection with the case, I can’t comment on that pending investigation,” Tadic told N1.
Speaking about the third phase of the affair investigation, she said they are cooperating with international teams from Croatia and Slovenia and that they are ending this phase as well.
“Our prosecutor must go to Novo Mesto, Slovenia, and investigate all the allegations from there. This part of the investigation relates to all the allegations stated by the web portal that broke the story,” Tadic said.
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Last month, Bosnian investigative news outlet Zurnal published a story claiming an alleged plot by the Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) to use Bosnian citizens as spies and try to make the country look like a terrorist hub.
In their story, several Bosnian Muslims said the SOA agents approached them and asked to provide information for them. After they refused, they were all told to leave Croatia and were banned from entering their territory for several years.
Other Bosnians who were expelled from Croatia spoke for N1 and said they were told they represent a national security risk, which is why Croatia expelled them.
Zurnal’s story contained an interview with an alleged member of the Salafi movement with the initials H.C., who said he cooperated with Croatian intelligence for four months. He said they threatened to ban him from entering Croatia and even with prison time for posing a threat to Croatia’s national security.
H.C. told Zurnal he refused to continue to cooperate when he was told to transport a backpack with firearms from Doboj in Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb-majority semi-autonomous entity, to masjids in central Bosnia.
Bosnian Prosecution created a case on March 14, saying they “would take urgent measures to determine all the circumstances and allegations published by the media, relating to the recruitment of Salafis for the smuggling of arms into Bosnia.”
The Chief Prosecutor argued that this affair should have never ended up in the Prosecution, but that regional intelligence agencies should have resolved this issue among themselves.
