Police in Kosovo have said that a driver of a car with Belgrade license plates was arrested after explosives were discovered in the vehicle, according to local reports. The suspected explosives were removed from the vehicle in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, on Thursday.
Interior Minister Skender Hyseni said there were 12.2 kilograms of explosives in the car. “We suspect the clear aim of this person was to commit a terrorist attack,” he said, according to Reuters.
“The substance that is suspected to be explosives was taken and sent for expert analysis, while the arrested person is being questioned,” police spokesman Bakir Kelani said, per B92, a media company based in Serbia.
The media firm said that a Serb national was arrested, and the car was stopped because police “had previous information” and were then able to “stop the vehicle and arrest the driver.”
Kelani said police acted on intelligence and stopped the suspect late Thursday as he drove toward an area where most Western embassies are located, including the United States Embassy.
Kelani said the car had Serbia-issued license plates and that the driver has a Serbian passport, but did not disclose his ethnicity or religion.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians are overwhelmingly Muslim.
Authorities have warned of a potential backlash from Islamic radicals after dozens of them were arrested earlier in the year upon suspicion of fighting alongside extremists in Syria and Iraq.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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