Petkovic: Pristina's special police have arrested Post of Serbia employees

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Wednesday special police forces of the so-called Kosovo had arrested three Post of Serbia employees in the north of Kosovo-Metohija earlier in the day.

"At the notorious Bistrica Bridge checkpoint, Kurti's special police troops today halted and arrested a Post of Serbia driver and two workers who were transporting money to Kosovska Mitrovica from a vault in Leposavic in a regular manner. Together with money intended for regular financial payments, they were taken to a customs terminal in southern Kosovska Mitrovica, and our representatives on the ground are with them," Petkovic said in a statement released by the Office.

Petkovic said the desperate move was Kurti's retaliation against Kosovo-Metohija Serbs following an election debacle and Pristina's new attempt to escalate tensions in the north of Kosovo-Metohija.

"This is a continuation of constant political and administrative barriers set by Pristina to hamper payment transactions in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, even though it has absolutely no right to do that. The Serbs have every legal and legitimate right to use their money, and that is not being called into question," Petkovic added.

He said freedom of payment transactions was guaranteed by Brussels agreements and that a Community of Serb Municipalities would take charge of such transactions once it was formed.

"I directly informed Miroslav Lajcak and the US of this dangerous move by Pristina and Kurti immediately, and we expect diplomatic activity on their part to calm the tensions generated by Pristina. This is a carefully calculated move ahead of a continuation of the Brussels dialogue and shows that Kurti wants no normalisation of relations or establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities," Petkovic concluded.