Police in northern Kosovo seize weapons, ammunition

PRISTINA, Kosovo

Police in Kosovo seized a large number of weapons and ammunition during a raid in the country's north, Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said Tuesday.

The raid took place at an address in the Serb-majority town of Zvecan.

Svecla said the address was used for the collection and distribution of weapons and ammunition for "Serbian criminal groups."

"Law & order will not be violated in our Republic," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

For two decades, criminal organizations "financed by Belgrade" managed to find shelter in the north of Kosovo, Svecla said.

He added that the large amount of weapons included magazines, hand grenades and explosives.

Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo have been protesting the election of Albanian mayors since late May.

NATO sent 700 additional troops on May 30 to support the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the alliance-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, after 30 of its soldiers were injured during the unrest.

When Pristina declared independence 15 years ago, most UN member states including the US, the UK, France, Germany and Türkiye recognized it as a separate country from Serbia. Yet Belgrade still considers Kosovo an autonomous Serbian province.