Kosovo Police raided and seized two drug laboratories in three locations in the north of the country, apprehending three suspects, with Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla saying they are linked to Serbian organised crime and protagonists of recent unrest.
The raids took place in the Serb-majority area of North Mitrovica, the location of tensions over the last few months, including road blockades over disputes relating to the ethnic-Serb majority’s disputes with Pristina.
The Serb population mostly do not accept Pristina’s authority following Kosovo’s independence from Serbia in 2008 following the 1998-1999 Kosovo-Serbia war and instead looks to Belgrade.
Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Xhelal Sveçla, said, “3rd drug lab destroyed today; narcotics valued at €2.3 million. Criminal activities in the northern part of our country are carried out by paramilitaries and drug dealers, protected by President Vucic and Petkovic.”
“Police arrested two Serbs as suspects while all police actions are being undertaken in coordination with justice institutions,” police said.
Svecla said that eight drug labs in the north had been destroyed in the last two years.
“Their owners (…) were all involved in attacks against Kosovo police officers, in setting up barricades and in threats against local Serbs who have refused to cooperate with them,” Svecla said.
“December’s barricades protected the drug dealers, not citizens, serving criminal interests. The era of protection for drug dealers and paramilitaries has ended. Justice will triumph sooner than expected,” he tweeted.
But the Serbia-backed Kosovo Serb party, Serbian List, denied the accusations and accused Svecla of “attempting to make a [false] connection between the arrests [on Sunday] and the attempted murder of Miljan Delevic [one of the owners, according to Svecla]”.
On 23 January, Delevic was shot by police in an incident at a checkpoint where Kosovo police said the vehicle he was driving had hit a police car and endangered lives. Police at the time said the suspects, including Delevic, fled the scene but that the matter was under investigation.
“Xhelal Svecla’s attempt… is futile and aims to justify his criminals in special unit uniforms who shot Delevic from the back a couple of weeks ago on Bistrica Bridge, which are illegally present in northern Kosovo,” Srpska Lista said.
They added that no Serbian officials or representatives of the Serbian List supported any criminal actions but accused Kosovo police of “harassing” the Serbian people for months.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
Source: euractiv.com
