Kosovo Police Search Strmac, Question Six
A weapons search moving through Ibarski Kolasin reached Strmac and Brnjak, and Kosovo police's 24-hour report listed, for the first time, what was seized in Zubin Potok.
Kosovo Police searched homes and outbuildings owned by Serbs in the village of Strmac near Zubin Potok on August 14 and took six people in for questioning at a police station. Searches were carried out the same day in neighboring Brnjak. The operation was reported by Veton Eljsani, deputy commander of Kosovo Police for the North region, who confirmed it was part of an ongoing search for illegal weapons in Ibarski Kolasin that has now run for several days.
Eljsani said items had been seized but did not specify the type or quantity of weapons found. He said some of those brought in had already been questioned and that all cases would go through the standard procedure.
Six people questioned in a single day is the highest number since the operation began. In the August 13 searches in Oklac and Dren, two people were questioned and released the same evening.
“In yesterday’s police action, two people were brought in and questioned, and they were released last night. For now we cannot confirm whether weapons were found at those locations. We will report the results of this operation later, in the regular police report,” Eljsani said.
Asked whether he could confirm reports of weapons found in Oklac and Dren, he gave a short answer.
“We’re not discussing that,” Eljsani said.
What did police seize in Zubin Potok?
The list of what was seized only surfaced in the police’s 24-hour report for August 14. It records five searches in the Zubin Potok area, and this is what was found:
- in the home of a male suspect: an AK-47 assault rifle, a revolver, 446 rounds of ammunition, 42 magazines, a radio and other military equipment
- in a second home: a hunting rifle, a revolver and two rounds of ammunition
- at a third location: 178 rounds of assorted calibers, a gas mask, two radios and additional weapon accessories
- in an unoccupied house: 30 rounds of assorted calibers and five long-barrel shell casings
- in the home of a woman: a hunting rifle that police say was licensed
No one was arrested in Zubin Potok. Police say all the seized items, after consultation with the prosecutor, are being handled through the regular procedure.
The same report also logs an arrest in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, where a Serbian citizen was taken into custody after 26 grams of a substance suspected to be cocaine, two rounds of ammunition, cash and a mobile phone were found on him. On the prosecutor’s order, he was sent to pretrial detention after questioning.
Fifth day of the operation, village by village
The operation has moved from village to village since it began. Prevlaka, Jabuka and Crepulja were searched first. Searches followed in Dren on August 11, including the property of Nenad Raskovic, before the operation moved on to Brnjak. Police returned to Dren on August 13 and simultaneously searched Oklac, where an AK-47 style assault rifle was found. Strmac and, again, Brnjak came next.
Dren is also the reason the operation has a sequel outside police reports. Local resident Nenad Raskovic says Kosovo Police officers took him into the woods after searching his home, tied him to a tree and beat him. We previously reported on his case, when he was taken to the Emergency Center in Belgrade. The Police Inspectorate of Kosovo has opened a preliminary investigation into the allegations on its own initiative.
A separate matter, unrelated to weapons, is unfolding in the same area. In the village of Kaludra near Zubin Potok, police found skeletal remains of three people on August 14; a forensic medical examiner determined the remains were human and of forensic significance. The report logs the case as a war crime against the civilian population, dated April 19, 1999. Police have not said whether the searches are connected to those investigations, and cite suspected unauthorized possession of weapons as the reason for the operation.
What is still missing after five days is a total. Kosovo Police has not published a combined tally of the operation: not the number of locations searched, not the total amount seized, not how many people have gone through questioning. Eljsani said final figures would be released once the operation ends, without giving a date for that.
