BELGRADE, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - In the wake of Radovan Karadzic's arrest, many considered his capture a sign of the changes at the helm of Serbia's intelligence services.

This was personified by the appointment just days before of Sasa Vukadinovic, a young gun closely aligned to Serbia's new pro-Western government, as the head of the BIA police intelligence agency.

The 36-year-old took up the post of BIA director on July 17 when he replaced Radomir Bulatovic, an official aligned with former hardline nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Four days later, Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader accused of orchestrating some of the worst atrocities since World War II, was captured in Belgrade after more than a decade on the run.

'Since he took office, it has been proven that someone inside the services had the information (on Karadzic's whereabouts) that they couldn't or wouldn't give to Vukadinovic's predecessor,' Milos Vasic, a journalist with the newsweekly Vreme, told AFP.

Born on January 12, 1972 in Krusevac, Aleksandar (Sasa) Vukadinovic was raised and attended primary and secondary in the central Serbian town.

In his late teens, he moved to the Serbian capital where he was to become a top student at Belgrade's Law Faculty and obtained his law degree in 1997.

After the autocratic regime of Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in the popular uprising of October 2000, Vukadinovic joined the police force, helping to amend and implement important legal changes.

He first came under the public spotlight after the first elections following Milosevic's ouster, which were won by a broad coalition of West-leaning parties.

In 2001, Vukadinovic headed back to Krusevac as its police chief, and won praise for breaking up a local organised crime gang headed by Zoran 'Jotka' Jotic.

Around this time, he oversaw the arrest of two police officers later found guilty of murdering a Croatian tourist in neighbouring Macedonia.

He also played a leading role during 'Operation Sabre,' the crackdown in which more than 10,000 people were arrested following the assassination of reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

His image as incorruptible grew among the residents of Krusevac, where legend has it he ordered the seizure of his father's driving licence because of road infringements.

'He is the best candidate to implement reforms, plus he has undeniable results in the fight against crime,' said Dejan Anastasijevic, a journalist and expert in war crimes.

But 'the reforms of BIA cannot be the work of one man, even the most professional. A joint effort by the whole government is needed,' Anastasijevic told AFP.

Prior to his appointment as BIA chief, Vukadinovic served as the director of Serbia's public prisons.

Vukadinovic lives in Belgrade. He is married and has two daughters.