Croatia now has a 18-day time frame to submit a request for Vucurevic's transfer, with the possibility of the deadline being extended up to 40 days, the Serbian ministry told press on Tuesday.

The spokesman for the Sabac hight court, Slobodan Velisavljevic, was quoted by the Serbian RTS broadcaster as saying that Croatia was now expected to forward an official request for Vucurevic's extradition, corroborating the request with relevant documentation.

"At this moment, we have information showing that he (Vucurevic) holds only the citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina," the spokesman said, adding that in further procedure the court would check if he is also the citizen of another country.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Croatian Justice Ministry reported that it was expecting an official notification on this case from Interpol before taking further steps.

Vucurevic was arrested at the Karakaj border crossing between Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Mali Zvornik, Serbia, around 1pm on Monday and was later placed in custody.

He is wanted in Croatia for the shelling of the historic coastal city of Dubrovnik during the war, when he served as mayor of Trebinje. In October 2008, the Dubrovnik County Prosecutor's Office indicted him for war crimes against civilians and the destruction of cultural monuments during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia.

According to the indictment, in September 1991 Vucurevic ordered mobilisation of Territorial Defence forces in the municipality of Trebinje near the southern Bosnian-Croatian border and the formation of special police units which were included in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which attacked Croatia from the territories of Herzegovina and Montenegro on October 1, 1991. By October 26, those units had occupied the Croatian territory stretching from Prevlaka to Ston and had held Dubrovnik under total blockade.

During their attacks, the JNA forces violated international conventions by deliberately and wantonly shelling civilian targets, as a result of which 91 civilians were killed and 200 were wounded. They destroyed, burned and looted the property of civilians and took people to detention camps at Morinje and Bileca. They also shelled Dubrovnik's Old Town, which is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, causing extensive damage to monuments within the city walls.

After the withdrawal of the JNA from the occupied area of Croatia on October 26, 1992, exercising full control and power over the armed forces of the self-styled Serb Autonomous District of Eastern Herzegovina, Vucurevic and commanders of the Herzegovina Corps ordered further shelling of Dubrovnik, which lasted until October 29, 1995. During that time, seven civilians were killed and 11 were badly wounded, and property damage was caused.