Pristina has accused Serbian forces of "kidnapping" three police officers in the predominantly Serb northern part of Kosovo, where tensions have been running high for weeks over the installation of ethnic Albanian mayors in the region.
Kosovar police said on June 14 that the three officers went missing during a patrol aimed at preventing the illegal use of roads for smuggling.
Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla accused Serbia of "entering the territory of Kosovo and kidnapping" the three policemen.
"Our police officers were undoubtedly located deep in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, at a static checkpoint, where they were performing their regular duties," he wrote on Facebook.
Reports on the incident in Serbian media said the officers were in Serbian territory when they were arrested. Serbian state television cited sources as saying that members of the Serbian police anti-terrorist group had located and arrested them.
Petar Petkovic, the head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, disputed the location of the arrest, telling a news conference in Belgrade that it took place in Gnjilica, a village located a few kilometers from the border, and that Serbia was willing to accept an international investigation into the arrest.
Kosovo later moved to increase border controls and decided to stop vehicles with Serbian license plates from entering the territory of Kosovo. Government spokesman Perparim Kryeziu confirmed to RFE/RL that the ban had been implemented. He said it was "for security reasons" and would continue while the situation is being assessed.
"The next actions will be taken based on the recommendations to law enforcement institutions," said Kryeziu.
Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti demanded the release of the officers, saying they had been arrested 300 meters inside Kosovo.
"The entry of Serbian forces into the territory of Kosovo is aggression and aimed at escalation and destabilization," Kurti wrote on Facebook.
He added that Kosovo suspects they were kidnapped by the Serbian Army "clearly as Serbia's revenge for yesterday's arrest of notorious criminal Millun Millenkovic-Lunet, who is one of the leaders of organized crime and smuggling."
Milenkovic-Lune is one of the leaders of criminal groups "that have been terrorizing our citizens for years, attacking members of the Kosovo Police and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo," Svecla said on June 13 as he announced the arrest.
Svecla said Milenkovic-Lune was the main organizer of an attack two weeks ago on KFOR forces and the Kosovar police in Zvecan. The attack occurred amid clashes between peacekeepers and Serbs after the ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election that Serbs boycotted.
The ethnic Albanian mayors were installed with the help of Kosovar police in three towns with an overwhelming ethnic Serb majority -- Zvecan, Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok -- following by-elections in April with a turnout of under 3.5 percent amid the Serb boycott.
Kurti, who has been under pressure from key Western supporters of Kosovo’s independence, on June 13 presented a five-point plan -- including fresh elections -- that he said would contribute to calming the tensions in northern Kosovo.
Holding new elections is a request of the international community, which condemned the decision of the Kosovo authorities to forcibly take over municipal buildings in the north.
The United States and European Union have called on Kurti to withdraw the mayors, remove special police used to install them, and uphold a 2013 deal for an association of autonomous Serb municipalities in the region.