“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
 |
Bosnian mob boss Edin Gačanin, has been arrested for the second time in Dubai and may now face extradition to the Netherlands.
The Dutch State Prosecutor’s Office had filed criminal charges against Edin Gačanin, who is suspected of smuggling 2,500 kilograms of cocaine, worth tens of millions of euros, into the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg.
Gačanin’s defense attorneys have reached plea agreements with the State Prosecutor’s Office, to forgo the trial in hopes of a reduced sentence of 7 years in prison and a €1 million fine.
“The Netherlands has also filed a request for extradition. We expect the procedure to be carried out without any problems,” the spokesperson said.
Euro Super Cartel
He had been arrested in November 2022 in Dubai after his extradition was requested by the Netherlands but released some months later when the bid failed.
Last year Gačanin was described as “one of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers” in an announcement by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Balkan Government Links
The gang was targeted in an operation led by the Bosnia and Herzegovina State Investigation and Protection Agency with the FBI, the DEA and Europol. Police arrested 23 people, including senior law enforcement officers, as part of the operation.
They said that as part of this plan they contacted local politicians and offered financial support.
They also say members of the criminal group advised setting up citizens’ associations to achieve political influence, and messages decrypted from the Sky messaging app showed they were often interested in the political situation.
Last May, Bosnia and Herzegovina dismissed their honorary consul in Panama over his suspected links to Gačanin. The office of the country’s presidency acted on the suggestion of politician Željka Cvijanović to sack Fatih Kol, who is suspected of being part of the ‘Tito and Dino’ cartel.
The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina unanimously voted for the dismissal of Kol, local media reported at the time.
According to the Sarajevo Times, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspects Kol of being part of the organized criminal group led at the international level by Gačanin, and in the country by Adnan Smajlović.
“Kol was not in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time of this action, so he could not be arrested, but his name is included in the proposal for detention or prohibition measures against members or collaborators.” the Times reported.