Kosovo police arrest three Serbs in organ trafficking case

Jun 12, 2009, 10:52 GMT

Pristina - Kosovo police arrested three Serbs for allegedly bribing Kosovo Serbs to falsely testify that they were victims of organ harvesting during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, police said Friday.

'The arrested are suspected of offering sums up to 100,000 euros (140,750 dollars) to Serbs to state that they were victims of organ trafficking during the war in Kosovo,' police spokesman Arber Beka told journalists in Pristina.

'Apart from money, the three were also offering apartments in Serbia, jobs and cars,' he added.

Beka said the three were arrested on Thursday and are now under 48-hour detention. One of the arrested is a former Kosovo police officer who was dismissed in 2007 for bad behavior and misconduct.

Kosovo media earlier reported that the arrested are members of Serbian Intelligence Agency (BIA), but the agency dismissed the reports.

Allegations of systematic organ theft and killing of Serbs by the Kosovo Albanian insurgents were levelled last year by former prosecutor at the International tribunal for former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, in her book 'The Hunt.'

Serbian officials launched investigation, but Kosovo and Albanian authorities denied the allegations.