20 Tons of Soybean Meal Seized Near Bogatic, Driver Held
A Scania truck was stopped on the Klenje, Salas Crnobarski road. Police found about 20 tons of soybean meal in the cargo area with no accompanying paperwork; the goods and truck were seized.
Police in the Macva region stopped a truck carrying about 20 tons of soybean meal for which the driver had no paperwork whatsoever. The stop took place on the Klenje, Salas Crnobarski road, in the Bogatic municipality. P.S., 35, from Raska, was arrested and is being charged with the criminal offense of illegal trade.
What was found in the cargo hold
The vehicle was a Scania truck driven by the suspect. Officers searched the cargo area and found goods stacked and packaged for transport. Serbia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) said in a statement that it was “about 20 tons of packaged soybean meal, without accompanying documentation.”
The goods and the truck itself were temporarily seized. The driver was issued a certificate for the temporarily confiscated items. The truck, in other words, was not just unloaded; it stayed behind with police as well.
The arrest followed, according to the statement, “because there are grounds for suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of illegal trade.” The statement was released on August 4.
Why did border police take part in the operation?
Because the whole thing happened just a few steps from the state border. The operation was carried out by officers from the Criminal Police Directorate’s Service for Combating Crime, Economic Crime Suppression Department, working alongside the Regional Border Police Center for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Badovinci Border Police Station and the Sabac Police Department.
Klenje and Salas Crnobarski are villages in the Bogatic municipality, in Macva, right along the Drina river. Badovinci lies a few kilometers away and is home to the border crossing into Bosnia and Herzegovina. The makeup of the team shows how the case was treated from the very first moment: not as a routine traffic stop, but as an economic crime case in the border zone.
How much is 20 tons of soybean meal
Soybean meal is what remains of the soybean after the oil has been extracted. It goes into feed mixes for pigs and poultry and is the main protein source in those mixes. It is not an exotic commodity but one of the most sought-after ingredients in livestock farming.
The quantity says something about the scale here. About 20 tons is practically a full load for a semi-trailer, not a sample or leftover from an earlier job. In legal trade, a shipment like that travels with a delivery note, an invoice and data on the sender and recipient. Without those papers, there is no way to establish where the goods started out or who they were headed to.
What is next for the suspect
Along with the criminal complaint, the suspect will be brought before the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Sabac. The prosecutor’s office will decide how the case proceeds, while the fate of the temporarily seized goods and truck will be determined in proceedings that are just beginning.
The presumption of innocence holds until a final verdict. P.S. is, for now, a suspect, not a convict, and what has been established on the road near Klenje is that the cargo was there and the papers were not.
