Bosnian police have arrested two people on suspicion that they smuggled migrants into the country from Serbia and their arrest is part of a major operation the two countries have launched to try to stop the increasing number of illegal migrations.

The local police said the two men were arrested in the eastern town of Bratunac, near the border with Serbia.

They are members of a people-smuggling ring, and previously nine more people were arrested on both sides of the border. They are all members of a criminal enterprise that transferred illegal migrants across Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia.

The police operation was supported by the Southeast European Law Enforcement Centre (SELEC), which brings together 11 countries of the broader region.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s eastern border is poorly protected or controlled and hundreds of migrants enter the country daily from Serbia and Montenegro.

More than 7,000 migrants are currently staying in the northwestern Una-Sana Canton, waiting for the opportunity to continue their journey to Croatia and further on to other EU countries.

Accommodation is available for only 3,000-3,500 illegal migrants in some of the reception centres in Bihac, Cazin and Velika Kladusa while others are still staying in the open, wandering around.

Local authorities, as well as residents, are increasingly worried about the situation which has escalated in Velika Kladusa, where, since Sunday locals have been preventing the arrival of buses with illegal migrants from Bihac.

In a comment on the protests, Mayor Fikret Basic said that since 2018 they have been asking that migrants be evenly distributed across the country but to no avail.