The prosecutor’s office in the Kosovo town of Gjilan/Gnjilane told BIRN on Thursday that the two Serbs, which it identified by the initials T.T. and D.D., were detained at around 9am the previous day at the Dheu i Bardhe border crossing for allegedly trying to smuggle files out of Kosovo.

“On this specific case, the Gjilan/Gnjilane Prosecution’s Department for Serious Crimes, yesterday, on July 10, 2019, detained two persons of Serb nationality on the suspicion that they have committed the criminal offence of espionage,” said Liridona Xheladini from the Gjilan/Gnjilane prosecution.

Xheladini alleged that the two arrested Serbs were sent by the Serbian Interior Ministry to retrieve files on Kosovo Serb officials in the Kllokot and Vitia municipalities and take them to Serbia.

While searching their car, Kosovo police allegedly found the files and detained the suspects.

The Serbian government’s office for Kosovo condemned the arrests, describing them as a “flagrant example of legal violence”.

It said that the two people arrested were a primary school principal from Vitina and a technical school principal from Vrbovac.

It claimed this was proof that “a campaign of intimidation of Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija by arresting Serbs and holders of important public positions continues”.