Accused war criminal allegedly a U.S. spy

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands, May 29 (UPI) -- Accused Serbian war criminal Dragan Vasilijkovic is suspected of spying for the United States in the early 1990s, investigators say.

During the war crimes trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, the court was told Vasilijkovic was suspected of compromising Serbia's national security during his time as a paramilitary commander under Slobodan Milosevic in the early 1990s.

The Australian reported Vasilijkovic, who was nicknamed "Captain Dragan," was very close with Simatovic, which is why his activities have been brought up during the trial.

Simatovic is a former head of the "America Group," a counterintelligence unit of the Serbian State Security Service, created to foil the CIA. Former America Group agent Radivoje Micic testified the unit spied on American journalists, as well as Serbian citizens visiting the United States. He said Vasilijkovic was among their "targets" and that the unit had agents follow him and tap his phone.

Vasilijkovic, who also goes by the name Daniel Snedden, was indicted by the Croatian government on charges of leading a massacre and torturing prisoners of war. He is currently detained in Sydney awaiting extradition to Croatia.