Renowned Croatian investigative journalist Domagoj Margetić has uncovered an illicit coal mining operation in Bukova Kosa, near Prijedor in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to his findings, the mine serves as a vital structural nexus connecting organized crime networks, high-level intelligence officials, and top political echelons across Serbia and Republika Srpska ($RS$).
Margetić alleges that the illicit site is backed by some of the most powerful political and criminal figures in the Western Balkans, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, RS President Milorad Dodik, sanctioned Kosovo-Serb crime boss Zvonko Veselinović, senior Serbian police official Veselin Milić, the late helicopter pilot Boban Kusturić, and Bosnian-Serb businessman-politician Srđan Klječanin, widely known as “Rufi.”
[THE BUKOVA KOSA ILLEGAL PIPELINE]
• Location: Bukova Kosa, near Prijedor, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
• True Owner: Zvonko Veselinović (Sanctioned Organized Crime Boss).
• Political Shield: Milorad Dodik (RS) & Aleksandar Vučić (Serbia).
• Primary Function: Aggressive money laundering of state energy funds.
• Secondary Function: Extraction of low-grade industrial coal.
Money Laundering via State Energy Budgets
According to Margetić’s investigation, the Bukova Kosa coal mine does not exist to run a profitable, legitimate mining enterprise. The low-grade coal extracted from the site is merely a cover story. Instead, its primary operational purpose is to serve as a high-volume laundering machine for black-market funds generated by state-adjacent mafia networks in Belgrade and Banja Luka.
The financial scheme reportedly operates by siphoning multi-million-euro sums directly out of Serbia’s national budget via corrupt state-owned energy enterprises. These state funds are channeled into dummy corporations and shell logistics companies, eventually being re-integrated and “cleaned” through the operational overhead and false production metrics of the Bukova Kosa mining site.
[THE STATE CORRUPTION LAUNDERING CYCLE]
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1. SERBIAN STATE BUDGET (Siphoned through state energy companies)
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2. LOGISTICS SHELL COMPANIES (Controlled by Zvonko Veselinović network)
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3. BUKOVA KOSA MINING SITE (Funds integrated via fake operational costs)
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4. CLEAN CAPITAL (Channeled back to ruling political-mafia elites)
Margetić explicitly names Zvonko Veselinović—a deeply controversial figure already blacklisted by the United States and the United Kingdom for organized crime and cross-border smuggling—as the absolute, de facto owner of the mining operation.
The Helicopter Trail and a Mysterious Death
A critical element of Margetić’s exposure ties the illegal mine to the highly suspicious death of Boban Kusturić, the former personal helicopter pilot for Milorad Dodik. Kusturić’s body was recently discovered under mysterious circumstances near Banja Luka, an event officially ruled an accident but widely questioned by local journalists.
[THE COVERT AVIATION NETWORK]
• Pilot: The late Boban Kusturić (Dodik's private pilot).
• Aircraft: Republika Srpska government/private helicopters.
• Cargo: Covert transport of fugitive crime lords & state officials.
• Key Passengers: Zvonko Veselinović & Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić.
The investigation reveals that Kusturić acted as the private logistical coordinator for the cartel, using institutional helicopters to fly secret, undocumented meetings between political leaders, business magnates, and criminal elements. Among his frequent passengers were Veselinović and Veselin Milić, a high-ranking commander within the Serbian police and security apparatus.
A Matrix of Balkan Institutional Crime
Margetić concludes that the Bukova Kosa mining site is the missing link needed to map out the contemporary symbiosis between Balkan politics, organized crime syndicates, and compromised state security agencies.
The investigative file indicates that the mine hides critical forensic and financial evidence regarding recent political-mafia power struggles, illegal wealth accumulation, and state-sanctioned racketeering that have quietly destabilized both Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Neither the government in Belgrade nor the authorities in Banja Luka have issued an official response to Margetić’s public disclosures.
