Serbian television station RTS has reported that the brother of Albania’s prime minister has been arrested in Belgrade for causing the riot that forced Serbia’s Euro 2016 qualifier with Albania to be abandoned.

According to the report, the Serbian Interior Ministry say that Olsi Rama – the brother of Albanian PM Edi Rama – piloted a drone carrying a Greater Albanian flag from his seat in the stadium.

Serbian players managed to bring the flag down, and a ruckus ensued, leading officials to call the game off in the 41st minute of the first half with the score still 0-0.

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Serbian fans hurled smoke bombs and other missiles onto the pitch in protest in a game from which Albanian fans had been barred.

This incident comes just days before the highly sensitive visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the first such visit in 68 years.

The Albanian Interior Ministry said they had been watching the events unfold anxiously and had been in contact with the staff of their counterparts in Belgrade to transmit a message from their Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri.

“The Serbian Government is responsible for the security, the life and health of the footballers and the Albanian delegation,” he said in his message.

Relations between Tirana and Belgrade have been fragile over Kosovo, a former Serbian province, and the ethnic Albanian minority in southern Serbia, who often demand more autonomy.

In Belgrade, some see Tirana’s interest as part of a plan aimed at creating a “Greater Albania” that would unite Albanian communities in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and southern Serbia.

Kosovo’s independence has been recognised by more than 100 countries, including the United States and most European Union member states.

Kosovo, the former Serbian province comprised mainly of Albanians, proclaimed its unilateral independence in February 2008.

The premature and violent end to the game was greeted with joy by nearly 5000 Kosovar Albanians gathered to watch it in their capital Pristina, shouting ‘Greater Albania’ and ‘victory’.

With AFP