Kosovo police arrested 16 suspects for arms smuggling on Wednesday during a wide-ranging police operation in southern and northern Kosovo.
In a joint statement, the Kosovo Police and the Basic Prosecution Office of Mitrovica announced that the police operation was carried out in 21 locations in South Mitrovica, North Mitrovica, Vushtrri, Skenderaj and Leposaviq.
During the operation, nine firearms, 200 cartridges, various ammunition, 15 mobile phones, two pairs of handcuffs, a knife, gun barrels, gun receipts and a DVR were seized, the announcement said.
The operation comes after several months of investigations and was carried out by the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Serious Crimes, with the support of police units and the Kosovo Police Inspectorate.
The arrested are suspected of committing the criminal offenses of "coercion", as well as "unauthorized import, export, supply, transportation, production, exchange, brokerage or sale of weapons or explosive materials".
Thirteen of the 16 arrested have been remanded in custody for 48 hours, the release said.
Security authorities did not provide further details about which countries or to which countries the suspects may have imported and exported weapons. REL (A2 Televizion)
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