Kosovo Police announced on Monday they have closed nine post offices run by Posta Srbije (Serbian Post) in the north of Kosovo – an operation aimed at outlawing Belgrade-backed institutions in the largely Serb-populated area and ending the use of the Serbian dinar for payments.

Police said the operation was undertaken after the Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications, ARKEP, informed them about that “illegal post offices” were operating there.

“An operation is ongoing in the north of Kosovo based on official information we have received from ARKEP, on suspicion that illegal, unregistered and non-licenced post offices are operating,” Kosovo Police said in a press release.

“Based on the official information, police investigations have been initiated in cooperation and coordination with justice institutions. So far, nine such locations have been identified,” it added.

Police said that “further measures will be taken depending on the findings”.

The operation came more than two months after Kosovo Police closed down six offices of Serbia-run financial institutions in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country.

The Kosovo authorities were aiming to implement a Central Bank decision on cash operation which the bans use of Serbia’s currency, the dinar, for payments.

The four Serb-majority municipalities, Leposavic, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica, along with other municipalities with Serb-inhabited areas elsewhere in Kosovo, have been using the dinar for payments since the end of the war in June 1999.

Serbia’s Ministry of Information and Telecommunications condemned the Kosovo police action, calling it illegal.

“This is another example of the clear demonstration of force and the illegal activities of the temporary institutions of the local government in Pristina, whose goal is the constant persecution of the remaining Serb and other non-Albanian people in ​​Kosovo and Metohija,” the ministry said in a press release.

On February 1, Kosovo authorities gave Kosovo Serbs an undefined time to start using the euro only in daily transactions and stop using the Serbian dinar.

The move irked Kosovo’s Western allies, who urged Pristina not to take unilateral action against Serb “parallel” structures, instead calling for both Kosovo and Serbia to discuss the issue during EU-mediated dialogue in Brussels.

Kosovo’s constitution defines the country as using “one single currency”. Kosovo has been using the euro since 2002, but people in Serb-majority municipalities, particularly in the north, use both Serbian dinars and euros.

After Kosovo authorities announced the decision to end the use of the dinar, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic vowed that Belgrade will continue to fund Kosovo’s Serbs – paying public-sector salaries, social welfare benefits and pensions – in dinars.