Vast arms cache found at Milosevic fortress

As Slobodan Milosevic awoke today after his first night in jail it emerged that a vast cache of weapons was seized from the mansion he had transformed into a fortress.

Milosevic, who was arrested on Sunday to face corruption charges arising from his 13-year rule, maintained his innocence, telling an investigative judge that he was not guilty of ‘‘a single count of the charge sheet’’.

The judge ordered him held for at least 30 days in Belgrade’s Central Prison while police continue investigations into allegations of criminal conspiracy and diverting millions of pounds of state funds.

After Milosevic was whisked away to Belgrade’s Central Prison, police entered his compound in the tree-lined Dedinje district and found a vast arsenal, including two armoured personnel carriers, 30 automatic weapons, three heavy machine guns, an anti-tank grenade launcher, 23 pistols of varying calibres, 30 rifle grenades, two cases of hand grenades and several cases of machine gun clips and other ammunition.

Milosevic had promised never to be taken alive and brandished a pistol during negotiations that led to his surrender. His daughter Mirjana fired pistol shots after her father agreed to give up, officials said, but there were no injuries.

It was a bizarre end to the political history of a leader who presided over the destruction of Yugoslavia, triggering and losing four Balkan wars that left his country in political, economic and spiritual ruin.

Milosevic agreed to give up only after government negotiators assured him that he would not be handed over immediately to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which indicted him in 1999 for atrocities allegedly committed by his forces against ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo.

Charges against Milosevic include claims that as president of Serbia and later Yugoslavia, he conspired with four top aides to steal about £270 million in Yugoslav dinars and German marks from the country’s treasury.

The charges carry a maximum of five years in prison on conviction. More serious charges could be raised over the months ahead, possibly including involvement in a series of political assassinations.

Milosevic is expected to face prolonged questioning over the coming days.