Kosovo Minister of Interior Bajram Redzepi stated for Tanjug on Friday that members of Kosovo police and customs and EULEX officers took over the crossings in northern Kosovo as of this morning.

He said that the operation was undertaken around 8 a.m. and that Kosovo customs and police officers and members of EULEX were transferred by helicopters to Jarinje and Brnjak crossings from the local KFOR base near Leposavic.

EULEX will carry out the operational part of duties on crossings whereas the Kosovo officials will perform the technical role, Redzepi underlined.

He stressed that the operation was conducted without any problems.

One EULEX helicopter landed on each of the two administrative crossings of Jarinje and Brnjak at about 8.20 a.m. Friday, Tanjug's on-site reporters stated.

The members of EULEX customs and police were transported to the Jarinje crossing by helicopter.

The members of the German contingent of KFOR, who are deployed at the Jarinje crossing, said that only the members of EULEX customs and police, and not the members of Kosovo customs and border police, arrived at the crossing.

The crossing will not open until the citizens who spent the night on the nearby barricade disperse.

A large number of citizens of the Leposavic municipality arrived at the Jarinje crossing at about 7.30 a.m. on Friday. They gathered in front of the barbed wire fence that KFOR members put up late on Thursday to close the crossing.

KFOR members are securing the crossing in full combat gear, and a warning notice was placed on the barbed wire saying 'Stop, I will shoot' on two languages.

The crossing has been additionally secured by barbed wire fence as of Thursday, and access is blocked with KFOR vehicles.

Gathered on both sides of the crossing, the Serbs spent the night on this and other barricades set in northern Kosovo, mounting a peaceful resistance to the announced action of Pristina aimed at deploying the Kosovo customs and police officers at the administrative line towards central Serbia.

EULEX spokeswoman Irina Gudeljevic told Tanjug she could neither confirm nor deny the reports.

Serbs remain at the barricades on the roads leading to and near the crossings, which are still closed and secured by wire, sand bags, vehicles and KFOR soldiers.

The UN Security Council confirmed late Thursday that any operation carried out by Pristina with the goal of taking over crossings in northern Kosovo cannot be based on the agreement reached in Brussels on September 2, because there was no agreement on the deployment of customs officials at the Jarinje and Brnjak crossings.