Serbia blundered in the search for its most wanted fugitive war crimes suspect, Ratko Mladic, when it arrested his helpers years ago instead of trailing them, the country's prosecutor for war crimes said in an interview released Tuesday. Acting on orders of the government task force in charge of tracking down Mladic, police arrested several of his helpers in 2006, cutting the trail which may have led to him, prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told the daily Vecernje Novosti.

Serbia's most wanted war crime suspect, Ratko Mladic, has been hiding in a Belgrade apartment for a number of years, the Press daily said Monday quoting police sources.

The newspaper said Mladic, a Serb general wanted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on charges of genocide, maintains contact with only one person, who brings food and medication to the flat in a Belgrade suburb, the paper said.