Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) state court ordered a one-month detention for five Islamists charged with organising and recruiting people to join European-based fighters in Syria and Iraq, the court said on Monday (September 8th).
The five are part of the group detained in an anti-terrorist action last week that resulted in the arrest of 16 people by the country’s State Investigative and Protection Agency.
The anti-terrorist action took place on September 3rd in Sarajevo and 12 other BiH towns.
“They are suspected of having recruited, organised and financed the departure of Bosnian nationals to Syria or Iraq, or of taking part in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq alongside foreign radical terrorist organisations and groups,” Kristina Jozic, a spokeswoman for the state police agency, told SETimes.
During the search, police officers said they seized weapons, ammunition and other military equipment, propaganda materials, computers and computer equipment, mobile phones, SIM cards and other items.
BiH passed a law in April allowing for prison terms of up to 10 years for convicted Islamist radicals and recruiters.
“The pressure from the EU on BiH to solve this issue urgently is obvious. Domestic authorities and agencies must work on the repression of radical Islam. This operation is just the beginning of that process and it should be hailed. The judiciary will now have the opportunity to use the new law that the BiH parliament adopted especially for such cases,” Dusanka Majkic, chairman of the Joint Committee on Defence and Security of BiH, told SETimes.