Kosovo Police announced that on Friday morning, an operation was launched in the village of Rodel in Leposavic - after receiving information from the field - which resulted in the confiscation of military uniforms, weapons and ammunition, and that behind them are members of the organization, Civil Protection - declared terrorist by the Kosovo authorities.
Police Director, Gazmend Hoxha, said that the action is continuing, while one person has been escorted to the police station to be interviewed.
Both Hoxha and Kosovo's Interior Minister, Xhelal Sveçla, have said that the seizures prove that members of the Civil Protection organization continue to be active in the territory of Kosovo.
"Serbia continues to harbor the terrorist Milan Radoićić, who is the head of this entire organization, which is trying to keep the remnants of terrorist groups alive, both in Serbia and in Kosovo," Svečla said.
He said that the Police will conduct investigations to understand who the members of the group engaged in that area are.
"The Kosovo Police is capable of dealing with these remnants, and it is proving this every day. We are not afraid, we are careful that every group operating in Kosovo faces the police, the prosecution and the judiciary," said Sveçla.
Milan Radoićić is accused by Kosovo authorities of being behind the organization and perpetration of the attack in Banjska, Zvečan, in September 2023. As a result, a Kosovo Police officer was killed.
What does Civil Protection do?
Since the end of the war in 1999, illegal structures have operated in the territory of Kosovo, supported and financed by the Serbian state.
One of them is Civil Protection, which was made public in 2011.
At that time, several people in black uniforms, with the inscription "Civilna zashtita" (Civil Protection), were seen on the streets of North Mitrovica, causing numerous reactions in Pristina.
In November 2012, dozens of members of this formation conducted exercises in the main squares of North Mitrovica - a municipality inhabited by a Serb majority.
A year later, Civil Protection members were also seen in front of polling stations in North Mitrovica, but were removed by Kosovo Police.
Civil Protection in Serbia operates within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its role is to respond to emergency situations of danger, such as floods, earthquakes, and the like.
The Kosovo Center for Security Studies has assessed that the Civil Protection is dangerous for Kosovo's security, as it consists of members who have completed military training.
At first, the organization had about 500 members, but this number increased to over 750 in 2013 and 2014.
The abolition of Civil Protection is foreseen in an agreement that Kosovo and Serbia reached in Brussels in 2015, within the framework of the dialogue for the normalization of relations.
By 2016, around 500 of its members had been integrated into Kosovo's institutions. However, the latter have continuously expressed doubts about the continued functioning of this formation.
On May 29 of this year, tensions in the north, specifically in Zvecan, culminated in violence between Serbian protesters and members of the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR. Dozens of injuries were reported on both sides.
On June 13, Serb Milun Millenkovic was arrested in North Mitrovica on suspicion of violence against KFOR and other criminal acts.
Kosovo's Interior Minister, Xhelal Sveçla, has said that Millenkovic is the leader of the "Civil Protection criminal formation and the leader of criminal gangs" in the north./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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