Citizen of Afghanistan Safi Mansoor Khan He was sentenced to two years in prison and expelled from Montenegro for five years because he smuggled several people from Pakistan and Nepal, enabling them to illegally enter our country via Albania for financial compensation.
Last month, the High Court in Podgorica upheld the Basic Court's verdict from the end of last year, which found an Afghan man guilty of committing the criminal offense of illegal border crossing and human smuggling.
An Afghan man was arrested in June last year because in the early morning hours in the town of Božaj, Tuzi Municipality, for a fee of 1.000 euros, he enabled two citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and nine citizens of Nepal to illegally cross the border between Montenegro and Albania, showing them the illegal route, and then taking them to the Foreigners' Reception Center where, in order to avoid identification, he falsely introduced himself as Khan Janis.
He was sentenced, by the first instance judge's verdict, Borka Lončar which was confirmed by the three-member criminal panel of the Higher Court, in addition to the prison sentence and expulsion from the country, the security measure of confiscation of his mobile phone and 855,4 euros as material gain obtained by committing the criminal offense was also imposed.
As an aggravating circumstance, the court considered the violation of a protected property and the circumstances under which the criminal offense was committed, given that he illegally crossed the border with a large group of foreign citizens for a monetary reward, and such migrations can have serious consequences for society as a whole.
Safi Masoor Khan had also entered Montenegro illegally just a few months earlier. At that time, he gave the authorities his real name and surname and said that he was born on January 1, 2000, while when he was detained in June and declared his intention to seek international protection, he gave the name of his brother. Khan Janissa, to introduce himself as Pakistani.
During his hearing with the prosecutor, he said that a friend showed him the illegal route to enter Montenegro in February last year, that he was a guide with an agreement to transport these Pakistani and Nepalese citizens to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that he then intended to continue on to England with the money he received from them. Among other things, he claimed that he first entered Montenegro over the hill, while in June he searched for another route via Google Maps, but also that, while searching for an adequate route to cross the border, instructions were sent to the Nepalese citizen Magar KilHe allegedly came to Montenegro from Greece where he worked on plantations.
The SOCTA 2024 report showed that Montenegro, although it has retained the status of a transit country, is recording a large number of migrants and a significant number of asylum seekers, which is causing concern and insecurity among citizens. In Montenegro, the employment of migrants for a certain period of time has also been recognized, after which they are illegally transported to one of the European Union countries.
The document claims that there are no registered organized criminal groups involved in human smuggling in Montenegro, but rather local smuggling groups and individuals operating on the borders with neighboring countries and providing logistics to international smuggling networks in migrant operations. These groups, the report explains, generally consist of five to 15 members, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
In recent months, several cases of preventing human smuggling have been recorded. The Border Police, together with colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina, recently prevented the smuggling of nine minors from Egypt. At the end of October, on the Božaj-Tuzi road, four foreign nationals were stopped who had illegally entered Montenegro through the forest. At that time, the police, acting on the order of the prosecutor's office, arrested a Nepalese citizen to whom a Ghanaian citizen had given money in order to illegally transport him to Montenegro, bypassing border crossings, and then organizing his further transport to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the hearing with the prosecutor, the Afghan said that a friend showed him the illegal route to enter Montenegro in February last year, and that he was a guide with an agreement to transport these citizens of Pakistan and Nepal to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
ECRI: Most migrants only in transit
Montenegro is a transit country on the Balkan migration route, and most illegal migrants simply pass through the country on their way to Western Europe, according to a report by the Council of Europe's Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
When it comes to asylum seekers, ECRI recalls that in 2018, the authorities introduced a "declaration of intent to seek asylum", which is valid for two weeks, specifying that this represents the first step, after which a formal application is submitted.
“The number of people who actually file such a claim is usually smaller than the number of those who made an initial statement. For example, in 2023, out of 4.973 people who expressed their intention to seek asylum, 145 did so,” the report said.
Therefore, the report points out, it is estimated that the remainder continues to migrate along the so-called Balkan route to Western Europe.
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