A government representative of Una-Sana Canton in Bosnia's northwest sent an open letter to security minister Nenad Nesic, foreign minister Elmedin Konakovic and head of the Service for Foreigners' Affairs Zarko Laketa, asking them to clarify the influx of migrants to the canton's territory from Croatia, which they allegedly know about but did not inform the cantonal authorities about, and warning that situation could escalate.

According to media reports, majority of the migrants are sent back form Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina based on the readmission agreement, Una-Sana Canton (USK) prime minister Mustafa Ruznic wrote in the letter, stressing that this resulted in the arrival of several hundreds migrants and that the local authorities have not been officially informed about the process by the higher level of authority.

“Particularly concerning are the indications that there is an unknown number of migrants among the newcomers to the USK territory, who could pose a potential security threat,” Ruznic told the officials, noting that they reportedly gave their consent for a detention unit within the Lipa camp for those migrants.

“It all indicates what category and structure of migrants is being imported from the West to USK,” he added.

Ruznic asked the officials if they evaluated security situation and what kind of attacks the locals in this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina can expect, given the new circumstances, and if there is a possibility of terrorist attacks in the area.

“We are aware that the most dangerous groups of migrants have been coming to USK recently and if until now we attributed the influx of migrants to negligence and indifference of the state institutions, now we can say that the state institutions are sending it to this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina in an organised and targeted manner,” he stressed, adding that the situation is very serious and could escalate.

Ruznic demanded that local authorities are informed about the details of the readmission agreement with Croatia and about the migrants who are under the movement ban measures. He also asked if the readmission agreements with Serbia and Montenegro are being implemented as well.

“On behalf of the USK Government, I urge you to promptly solve this problem and we will accept nothing less than equal distribution of migrants based on the readmission agreement on the territory of whole Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.