The Zagreb Police Department has completed an extensive criminal investigation into two suspects, a 73-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman, on suspicion of human trafficking.

A month ago, the police received the first information about possible abuses within a foster family, which led to initial investigations. Subsequently, appropriate measures were taken, resulting in the completion of the criminal investigation.

The investigation determined that the suspects, since May 2004, when they received permission to provide social accommodation services for adults, until July 2024, had taken in four adults aged 43 to 69 into their family.

The suspects are suspected of exploiting the severe psychophysical and mental health condition of these individuals, monitoring, punishing, and forcing them to perform hard physical labor. In this way, they created a relationship of dependency and control over these individuals, violating international law provisions, including the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

The police searched the premises where the victims were housed and, in cooperation with the relevant authorities, urgently relocated these individuals to other qualified foster families.

The man and woman were arrested on the spot after the search and taken to the official premises of the Zagreb Police Department. Upon completion of the criminal investigation, they were handed over to the detention supervisor, and a criminal complaint was filed against them on suspicion of committing the crime of human trafficking with the competent County State Attorney's Office in Zagreb.