Police raid Kosovo town administration

Sep 28, 2010, 9:02 GMT

Pristina - Police in Kosovo raided the municipal administration seat and several households in Skenderaj, a town 40 kilometres west of Pristina, the European Union's law-enforcing mission, Eulex, said Tuesday.

'A search has been carried out in the municipality and four private homes,' Eulex spokeswoman, Kristiina Herodes, said. She said the actions were part of an anti-corruption case against eight suspects, including Sami Lushtaku, the mayor of Skenderaj.

Lushtaku is an influential member of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and one of his closest allies.

Like Thaci, Lushtaku was a leader of the Kosovo Albanian guerilla army during the 1998-99 war with Serbian security forces.

Eulex and Kosovo anti-corruption police have carried out high-profile raids over the past six months, targeting the transport and health ministries and the central bank, arresting several officials.

The EU deployed Eulex in Kosovo in late 2008, after the former Serbian province declared independence. The mission is helping Kosovo, plagued by organized crime and corruption, to establish the rule of law.