Decrypted Sky and Anom Messages Expose Links Between Politicians, Police and Drug Cartels in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The seizing and decryption of messages from two encrypted communication platforms—Sky ECC and Anom—has been central to an unprecedented wave of criminal investigations in Bosnia and Herzegovina that prosecutors say link organised crime, police officers and political figures. Bosnian courts have so far charged or convicted 106 people in cases tied to the decrypted material, and investigators estimate that around 3,000 users from BiH whose messages were recovered remain to be identified.

Investigators and prosecutors describe the Sky and Anom operations as a turning point. A Sarajevo-based police investigator told Radio Free Europe that the extent of identified suspects would likely have remained unknown without the international seizures. He said, "Da međunarodne policijske agencije nisu zaplijenile Sky i Anom servere i dešifrirale te poruke, mi za većinu tih lica možda nikad ne bismo ni saznali." That assessment underscores the cross-border nature of the probes, which involved Interpol, Europol and the U.S. FBI.

Sky ECC was a commercial encrypted messaging application used on modified phones; European and U.S. law enforcement seized its servers and decrypted messages in 2021. Anom, by contrast, was an FBI-run platform distributed to criminals as part of an undercover operation. Western agencies subsequently provided Bosnian prosecutors with hundreds of thousands of recovered messages; the first Bosnian indictments based on those materials were filed in 2023.

Tužiteljstvo BiH says the cases span a wide array of serious crimes: murders, trafficking of more than seven tonnes of marijuana and at least 35 kilograms of cocaine, money laundering of millions of euros, corruption, forgery of documents and human smuggling. More than 300 people have been named as suspects or accused in the files; among them are about 30 current and former police officers, a former senior adviser to the state minister of security, Bojan Cvijetić, and former Sarajevo municipal chief Ibrahim Hadžibajrić.

Prosecutors have assembled a specially dedicated team, which the chief state prosecutor introduced publicly: "Takozvani Sky tim formiran je krajem 2021. godine. U njemu je radilo 11 tužilaca, otprilike petina svih. Optužili smo i pripadnike raznih policijskih agencija, bivšeg savjetnika ministra sigurnosti kao i dva advokata", Milanko Kajganić told reporters. So far, authorities have brought 20 indictments; 17 people admitted guilt and were sentenced to a combined 30 years behind bars.

The evidence extracted from decrypted messages has been instrumental in identifying suspects and prompting searches that uncovered drugs, cash, weapons and other materials. One investigator said of a single user, "Mi u jednom predmetu koji je u toku imamo jednog korisnika Sky aplikacije koji je razmijenio više od 900.000 poruka s više od 300 nepoznatih lica." But the investigator also cautioned that the messages alone are not always sufficient proof in court; they have often functioned as the starting point for further investigative work, corroboration and action.

Judicial responses to the Sky and Anom materials have been uneven. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has accepted messages from the encrypted platforms as lawful evidence, but lower courts have disagreed in some cases. The Cantonal Court in Tuzla excluded Sky evidence in an organised crime case, while courts in Sarajevo and Banja Luka accepted similar material in murder prosecutions and drug-related trials. Legal inconsistencies are likely to shape outcomes as dozens of complex cases progress.

Prosecutors say the decryptions have revealed a hierarchical structure within the criminal networks: international organisers at the top, middle-layer logisticians and operatives who interacted with state officials, and lower-level couriers and sellers. The middle tier, according to court files, included at least seven members of police and security services, including employees of SIPA, the State Investigation and Protection Agency, border police and entity-level interior ministries. Money laundering operations were allegedly channelled through dozens of private companies, construction projects and real estate purchases. In one case, prosecutors claim more than three million euros were smuggled in cash "u koferima" and then introduced into legal business streams.

So far only three cases have been fully completed and one partially; a total of around 150 suspects have been detained or questioned in the Sky/Anom investigations. Courts have frozen millions in assets and around 1.2 million euros in cryptocurrency, but civil recovery of proceeds has been limited and fines or asset confiscations remain relatively small in some concluded matters. As one long-time court expert observed, the presence of large, unexplained purchases and vacant luxury properties points to systemic money laundering: "Penthaus u Sarajevu danas se proda za preko 10.000 maraka [oko 5.000 eura] po kvadratu, koji kasnije 'zjapi' prazan. Ko danas ima 30 godina, nema dana radnog staža, a ima 200.000 maraka da kupi auto. Odete na pijacu, razmjenjuju se devize. Eto samo tri primjera kako se 'peru pare'."

Authorities warn that the scale and complexity of the cases mean prosecutions will continue for years. With some 3,000 users linked to the encrypted platforms and hundreds of suspected collaborators across politics, law enforcement and the private sector, Bosnian prosecutors say the decrypted messages have opened an expansive and still-unfolding avenue of accountability that will test the capacity and cohesion of the country’s judicial and policing institutions.