In the Brčko district in Bosnia and Herzegovina the police entered a house together with the competent services where she found 31 children, reports the portal Kliks.
"Undertaking activities within its competence, the Police of the Brčko District of BiH is, based on operational knowledge and under the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office of the Brčko District of BiH, and in cooperation with the Sub-Department for Social Protection of the Brčko District of BiH and the Red Cross/Cross of the Brčko District of BiH, on 25.02.2025/31/XNUMX. found XNUMX minor children in a private residential building in Brčko and took them to a safe place," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The children were found with Croatian passports, and three people were arrested on suspicion of committing several crimes, including human trafficking.
The Brčko District Police, by order of the Prosecutor's Office and in cooperation with the Social Protection Service and the Red Cross, found a large number of children and took them to a safe place.
"As part of the activities so far, three people were arrested on suspicion of having committed criminal acts of human trafficking, child trafficking, and child neglect or abuse." The investigation into the said event is ongoing," the police announced.
As it was unofficially confirmed, the authorities found as many as 31 children in one house in the Brčko area, including one under the age of one.
As they explain, in the late evening hours of the same day, the Police of the Brčko District of BiH, under the supervision of the Prosecutor's Office of the Brčko District of BiH, deprived three persons of their freedom - Z.Đ. and A.Đ. from Brčko and VP from Banja Luka due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that they committed the criminal offense of "Trafficking in Human Beings" from Article 207a, "Trafficking in Children" from Article 207b, and the criminal offense of "Abandoning or abusing a child" from Article 216 of the Criminal Code of the Brčko District of BiH.
The children had passports from the Republic of Croatia, and they were looked after by a woman, most likely an Italian citizen. A BiH citizen and his son were also arrested with her.
Where is the Balkans on the route of the white slave traders?
By the way, child trafficking in the Balkans is still on the rise, despite numerous legislative and practical measures taken in previous years.
According to data from a few years ago, children in the Western Balkans are victims of trafficking with different goals of exploitation: sexual exploitation, including the production and distribution of child sexual abuse materials, forced marriage, forced labor, forced begging and forced criminal activities.
According to the 2021 report, in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia, the majority of identified child victims in 2020 were girls - 18 in Serbia, 24 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, six in North Macedonia, but there were also boys who were identified as victims - six in Serbia, seven in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In Serbia, cases of sexual exploitation of children are in the majority - 37 percent in 2020, while 21 percent of children were exploited for labor exploitation.
Reports by the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) point out that the actual number of persons, including children, who are victims of human trafficking is likely to be higher than official figures indicate.
"The actual extent of the phenomenon is difficult to measure due to the invisible and hidden nature of human trafficking and the challenges associated with identifying victims," the statement added.
Source: Klix.ba
