The last Balkan war-crimes suspect was extradited to the UN tribunal in The Hague yesterday, after being allowed last-minute visits with relatives.

Goran Hadzic, 53, is accused of atrocities stemming from Croatia's 1991-95 war, including the levelling of Vukovar and the massacre of some 200 Croat prisoners of war after the devastation of the town on the Danube.

A convoy of jeeps and police cars left the detention unit of the Serbian war crimes court yesterday morning, taking Hadzic first to Novi Sad, where he visited his ailing 86-year-old mother, then delivering him to Belgrade airport.

Hadzic was arrested on Wednesday after seven years on the run, after Serbian agents followed a money trail that began in December when Hadzic's aides tried to sell a Modigliani painting.

His extradition follows that of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who was arrested on genocide charges nearly two months ago.