Three Kosovan border patrol officers were taken hostage in the north of the country on June 14, the Kosovo Police announced in a statement. 

The officers appear to have been kidnapped the day after protests broke out in majority-Serb northern Kosovo following the arrest of a local Serb suspected of being behind violent attacks on police and KFOR (Kosovo Force) peacekeepers in the region at the end of May. 

There are conflicting reports from the Kosovan and Serbian authorities as to where the officers were apprehended. 

The story initially broke when Serbian media reported, quoting the country’s interior ministry, that three members of the Kosovo special units had been arrested within Serbia. 

A video from the Serbian interior ministry showing the men being put into a car. 

The Kosovo Police later issued its own statement, confirming the capture of the three officers but saying it had happened inside Kosovo. 

The police statement said the three officers were on patrol in an area known as Tresave/Bare, where they were deployed to prevent illegal border crossings and smuggling.

According to the statement, around midday the officers “noticed a masked and armed person/s” and backup units were sent to support them. 

However, on arrival the assistance units saw only the official car, but not the police officers who were on duty at that location. 

“[I]t is suspected that the police officers were kidnapped by the Serbian forces,” the statement said. 

“In order to take concrete actions for the safety of the police officers suspected to have been kidnapped by the Serbian forces, all local and international mechanisms have been contacted so that they are released as soon as possible and returned to the Kosovo Police.” 

Earlier Serbian media reported that three members of the Kosovo special units had been arrested within Serbia. 

A Serbian interior ministry statement quoted by Beta says: “All three arrested were armed with automatic weapons and in full military gear with GPS devices, maps and other equipment.”

The two sides dispute where the officers were apprehended. 

Serbia’s interior ministry initially claimed they were “deep in depths of the territory of central Serbia” with the aim of destabilising the country. 

The statement quoted by RTV says: “with the quick and efficient action of the Serbian police, the attempt of the so-called of the Kosovo police to invade the territory of central Serbia to carry out an action which by all parameters is a terrorist act with the aim of additional destabilization and escalation of the conflict directed against the Republic of Serbia.” 

However, the Kosovan police statement said the three men were “deep in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, in the border area in the north of the country”.

In the last few minutes the Serbian interior ministry has posted footage of the men, handcuffed and blindfolded, being led into a car. A statement from interior ministry state secretary Zeljko Brkic confirms Serb forces have arrested three members of the Kosovo Police.