On July 28, a group of 20 people from Afghanistan, including two individuals under the age of 18 years old, departed from Loznica (SRB) and began their transit attempt to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The took a boat across the Drina River around midnight on July 28 and then walked for two hours inside the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Around 2:00AM, near the village of Gornji Šepak (BiH), the respondent reported that they were spotted by two male police officers described as wearing dark blue uniforms. He states that the police pointed a gun at the group members and shouted “stop.” Everyone in the group followed the order.

The police then demanded that everyone hand over their mobile phones and the respondent reported that the police smashed the phones on the ground to break them.

The group members waited with these two officers for five minutes and then a second police van described as holding two more male officers arrived at the scene.

The police ordered the 20 individuals inside the van and the police drove the group for around 20 minutes back to the Serbian border. The police brought the group to the Šepak bridge border crossing and shouted “go.”

The group members crossed the bridge and slept in the forest in Serbia for one night. The following night they attempted to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina again and they successfully entered the country and reached Sarajevo the following day.

“Bosnia people are good, but Bosnia police are big problem”