Telekom workers released in Kosovo

Source: B92
GRAČANICA -- Telekom Srbija workers taken into custody in the Serb enclave of Gračanica after trying to get transmitters in the region to work have been released.

The five workers were trying to fix the landline and mobile networks in central Kosovo, and spent three hours in a Gračanica prison.

Their personal identification cards were taken from them by Kosovo police, KPS, and they are expected to report back on Thursday.

The reaction of the KPS came 24 hours after the mobile and landline networks were reestablished in central Kosovo.

The five workers were arrested while working at a telephone pole in the village of Badovci, near Gračanica.

“Based on the operative orders, if someone makes an unauthorized appearance to areas where the Telekom wires were cut, they will be taken to the station and we are ready to act on that,” commander of the Gračanica Kosovo police station, Bratislav Trajković, said.

Workers of the local health center and ambulance blocked the entrance of the police station and traffic in Gračanica in protest for a short while.

Phone services of Telekom Srbija in most of central Kosovo continues to function.

Kosovo Albanian authorities last month disabled or destroyed mobile and landline telephony transmitters owned by Telekom and Telenor compenies to Serb areas south of the Ibar River. The service has since been restored to a large degree.