Pictured: The alleged war criminal living in an Irish town for at least a decade

We tracked down Dragan Rakanović at his home in Portlaoise, Co Laois – days after he was arrested and brought to court by the Garda Extradition Unit.

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This is the moment the Irish Mirror confronted an alleged war criminal – who has been living in an Irish town for at least a decade.

We tracked down Dragan Rakanović at his home in Portlaoise, Co Laois – days after he was arrested and brought to court by the Garda Extradition Unit.

Sources have told us that Mr Rakanović was arrested after his name was entered in the Garda computer system PULSE over a minor unrelated matter – and a warning flashed up that a man with that name was wanted for alleged war crimes in the former Yugsolavia, part of which is now Croatia.

We have established that a 56 year old ethnic Serb named Dragan Rakanović is wanted for war crimes allegedly committed in the former Yugoslavia more than 30 years ago.

He is alleged to have maltreated two police officers who were being held captive by Serbian nationalists in the village of Borovo Selo in modern Croatia May 1991.

That incident is believed by many to have sparked the bloody Croatian war of independence, a conflict that cost more than 20,000 lives, in which Croats fought to break free from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia.

Sources say the warning on the Garda PULSE system was part of the Schengen scheme, on which European countries share details of people wanted in their states for crimes.

Officers became aware a man with his name was wantedin Croatia and detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit at the force HQ in Dublin’s Phoenix Park travelled to Portlaoise last Friday and arrested him.

Mr Rakanović was taken into custody on foot of an extradition warrant from Croatia and appeared in the High Court in Dublin earlier this week.

His case was adjourned and he was released on bail. He then returned to his family home in the Fairgreen area of Portlaoise – where we caught up with him yesterday.

He confirmed to us that he had appeared in court, but his son then said his father had poor English and that the family did not wish to make any comment.

His full case is due to be heard at the High Court at a later date. He has been living in Portlaoise since at least 2013. Five men indicted by Croatian authorities over the incident in Borovo Selo, near Vukovar in eastern Croatia.

One man, Milan Marinkovic, was jailed for three and a half years in 2012 – but four other men alleged to have taken part in the incident could not be tried as they were outside the country.

All five men are alleged to have taken part in beatings of two Croatian policemen captured by Serb paramilitaries in what was then Yugoslavia.

The incident started when four police officers saw a Yugoslav flag in the town – and tried to replace it with a Croat one. That led to a confrontation with locals – with all four officers being wounded. Two escaped in a car, but the other two were captured.

It’s alleged they were then mistreated in custody. Croatian bosses then sent a rescue team the following day – but those officers drove into an ambush.

Twelve of the rescue team and one Serb paramilitary fighter died in the incident – before Yugoslav national police intervened to restore order.

The incident led to deterioration of relationships between Serbs and Croats – and Yugoslavia then fell apart. Croatia then fought for independence in a bloody, four-year war. It is now an independent country in its own right.