Europe was thus on the brink of a second war on our continent: Szabolcs Panyi, a journalist with VSquare (a Hungarian media company), has now uncovered new details about a secret operation that was allegedly planned by the well-known Hungarian anti-terrorism unit TEK (Terrorelhárítási Központ) in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The aim of the operation was to smuggle Milorad Dodik, the Serbian separatist leader, out of the country in the event of his arrest by Bosnian authorities. According to the Hungarian journalist and blogger Gábor Panyi, this was done on the direct orders of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The plan was for the TEK (Tuzla Einsatzkommando), led by János Hajdu, to extract Milorad Dodik from Bosnia as soon as he was arrested. The TEK forces wanted to bring him to Hungary via Croatia.

But this emergency plan was leaked, and although Dodik¹ was indeed sentenced to one year in prison by a court in Sarajevo, he was able to appeal – which prevented immediate imprisonment for the time being.

Panyi further reports that the United States was informed of the planned action from the outset – and it was ultimately the US side that warned Croatia’s government.

¹ Dodik is the president of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska.

Confrontation with Croatian special forces threatened

As a result, the Croatian authorities seriously prepared to prevent Dodik from attempting to smuggle. According to Panyi’s sources, they were even prepared to arrest not only Dodik but also Hungarian TEK officers at the border in the event of an escalation, should the operation escalate further.

A European diplomat told the journalist that such an action would have meant a dangerous escalation in the Western Balkans, with potentially completely uncontrollable consequences. The reaction of the United States was correspondingly strong.

When asked how annoyed Washington was with the Hungarian move, a Hungarian official replied curtly: “Very.”