'Police anti-crime action in Kosovo is being exploited for political purposes'

(Patria) - The Kosovo Police stated in a press release that the operation launched this morning in northern Kosovo is also being carried out in areas predominantly inhabited by the Albanian population – Srbica, South Mitrovica, and Drenica. Nine arrested police officers have been brought to Pristina, to the building of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate.

"During today's police operation, which is still ongoing, members of the Kosovo Police of Serbian, Albanian, and Bosniak ethnicity were arrested. The police operation being conducted in several regions, including Zvečan, Zubin Potok, Leposavić, North and South Mitrovica, Srbica, and Drenica, has resulted in the arrest of suspected police officers of various ethnicities," the latest statement from the Kosovo Police reads.

They add that in addition to armed resistance in North Mitrovica, they also encountered roadblocks that stopped the passage of official vehicles, "which forced them to use necessary means to remove the roadblocks in order to continue the operation."

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić stated today that in this morning's operation by the Kosovo special police in northern Kosovo, a total of 23 persons of Serbian and Bosniak ethnicity were arrested, and added that the purpose of the operation was not the fight against crime but the desire to intimidate the Serbian people and criminalize the local population.

In his address to the deputies of the Serbian Assembly, Vučić reiterated that the Serbian Army will protect the people if their security is threatened, and that as supreme commander he has already ordered all units to raise combat readiness.

On the other hand, Vučić said he had contacted representatives of the European Union and the Brussels administration, i.e., the mediators in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and informed them of everything that was happening, but they told him it was an anti-crime operation.

KFOR spokesman Vincenzo Grasso confirmed to the media that the Kosovo Police is conducting an operation across Kosovo based on a warrant from the Basic Court in Pristina, in connection with a corruption investigation.

"KFOR confirms that this is only a police operation and that neither KBS nor other military forces have been sent to the North of Kosovo."

Journalist of the internet portal "Kossev" from the North of Kosovo, Milica Andrić-Rakić, told the Patria agency that there had been talk for months about possible arrests in the police, but that politics is now trying to exploit this operation for political purposes.