Sveçla: The vice-president of the Serbian List is connected to the attack on the Kosovo Police in the North

The security authorities in Kosovo have accused the vice president of the Serbian List, Millan Radoicić, of organizing and participating in the attack on the Kosovo Police on September 24.

During a media conference, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, said that the authorities have found maps and plans for the attack on the Kosovo Police in the north on September 24. He argued that the attack was not ad-hoc but had been planned for months.

He said that based on the documents found by Radoicic, he is connected to the attack.

"In these materials, we also found documents of the criminal who is also on the black list of the USA, Millan Radoicic, documents that prove his connection or direct participation in this action. This is the list of weapons or permits of the institutions of Serbia given to Millan Radoicic, where there is also a list of the weapons he owns, with numbers, with all of them found in the first car in line there and definitely the original document is in the hands of forensics ", Sveçla said during the press conference at the camp of special police units in South Mitrovica, where the police exhibited the weapons and equipment they found at the scene.

According to him, based on the weapons they found, it is believed that there was a plan to involve "hundreds of people to destabilize our country" in the attack.

Svečla said that, according to the information so far, "six terrorists are being treated in the hospital of Novi Pazar [a city in Serbia]", while calling on Serbia to hand them over to Kosovo. He said that apart from them, other members of the group who may have fled to Serbia should be handed over to Kosovo to face justice.

He said that based on the information, some of the members of the group that attacked the police were members of the "North Brigade" and "Civil Defense", which Kosovo declared as terrorist organizations earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, the general director of the Kosovo Police, Gazmend Hoxha, said that in a Mercedes car, with Belgrade license plates, a weapon permit was found in the name of Radoicic.

"The document was issued by Serbian authorities, raising the strong suspicion that Millan Radoicic himself is among the armed and uniformed persons," said Hoxha.

"This terrorist group is suspected to have been organized by Milan Radoicic, a person close to [Serbian] President Aleksandar Vucic. The terrorist group in the provision of weapons and logistical means, including the entry into Kosovo with over 26 motor vehicles, is suspected to have been actively supported and supported by the Government of Serbia", he emphasized.

Hoxha said that the operation to find the persons involved in the attack on the Police - suspected to be around 30 of them - not excluding the possibility that they are still in the territory of Kosovo.

Radoicic is the vice-president of the Serbian List, who is wanted by the Kosovo authorities and is also on the US blacklist for "involvement in international organized crime".

He is wanted by Kosovo under suspicion of being involved in the intimidation of witnesses in the court case, known as "Brezovica".

Radoicic is also mentioned in an indictment as "the leader of the criminal group", which planned the murder of the Serbian politician, Oliver Ivanovic. However, the arrest warrant for Milan Radoicić was withdrawn in March 2021 without any explanation.

Director Hoxha said that weapons of various calibers, rocket launchers, explosives and detonators were found in and around the monastery in Banjska.

Hoxha said that some of these weapons were also used in attacks in the past, as he said, by "Civil Defense".

The Director of the Kosovo Police said that based on the documents found, five of which belonged to suspected members of "Civil Defense".

Security authorities said the group was professional and well prepared. In addition to the weapons, police officials said they confiscated 24 vehicles, an armored vehicle and two four-wheelers.

In the early hours of Sunday, the Kosovo Police was attacked by a group of masked and armed persons, after the law enforcement authorities tried to remove the barricades placed in Banjska i Zveçani.

As a result of the clashes, the police official, Afrim Bunjaku, was killed and several others were injured.

The armed group then took refuge in the Banjska monastery from where they clashed with the Kosovo Police.

The authorities said that three attackers were killed, while on September 25 it was reported that the dead body of another suspected attacker was found. Meanwhile, six people, who are suspected to be connected to the armed group, have been arrested.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, described the armed attackers as "an organized professional unit that has come to fight in Kosovo".

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that the gunmen were local Serbs from Kosovo, "who could no longer suffer Kurt's terror".

Vucic condemned the killing of the Kosovo policeman, saying it "cannot be justified", but denied that Belgrade had anything to do with the attack.

A day after the clashes in the north, the situation in this area of ​​Kosovo - inhabited by a majority of Serbs - is reported to be calm, but the access to the village of Banjské in the Municipality of Zveçan is still closed by the Kosovo Police./rel