SARAJEVO, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) arrested four people and confiscated one tonne of tobacco at several locations on Wednesday.
Acting on the command of Court of BiH, SIPA members raided five locations, objects and movable properties in Tuzla and Lukavac, cities located some 120 km northeast of the capital Sarajevo, and Vitez, a city located some 75 km northwest, a SIPA statement said on Wednesday.
During the raid, SIPA policemen found and temporarily seized objects that may serve as evidence in the criminal offense of "Organized Crime", referring to Article 250 in conjunction with the criminal offense of "Unauthorized Traffic of Excise Goods".
"One tobacco cutter, some 113,45 kg of cut tobacco, some 1,400 kg of fabricated tobacco, some 2,000 boxes of 'RAQUEL' blue slims cigarettes without excise stamps, and a bigger amount of money for which there is a suspicion that it is being earned by committing criminal offense" was confiscated in the action, the press statement added.
In addition, SIPA members found a mobile phone, documentation, and automatic gun "Z" of 6.35 mm caliber with four bullets.
The Court of BiH ordered four suspects to be deprived of their liberty and to be examined in SIPA premises.
The investigation showed that suspects, in a fraudulent and unlawful way, managed to get large volumes of tobacco, which they further distributed on the illegal market.
Taxes for 1 kg of tobacco in legal sale in BiH amount to some 100 KM (58.9 U.S. dollars), which means that suspects damaged the BiH budget by some 100,000 KM (58,900 U.S. dollars).
