SARAJEVO, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - The wartime commander of Bosnian Muslim forces in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, was ordered held in detention for one month after his arrest two days ago on suspicion of extortion, national radio reported on Sunday.

Oric, his wife Zahida and a man identified as Dzermin Kadric were arrested Friday on suspicion of extortion and illegal arms possession.

The three are suspected of using 'force and intimidation to extort in the period from 2002 to October 2008 a total of 204,000 Convertible Marks (104,000 euros, 144,000 dollars) from person under initials Dz.O,' Sarajevo county prosecutors said in a statement.

A police search of Oric's and Kadric's homes turned up several illegally held guns, rifles and automatic rifles, as well as a substantial quantity of ammunition, the statement added.

Oric, 41, was cleared in July by The Hague-based UN tribunal of war crimes against Serbs.

He had previously been sentenced to two years in jail after being found guilty of failing to prevent his subordinates from killing six Bosnian Serb prisoners and maltreating others held in Srebrenica in 1992 and 1993.

In 1992, Srebrenica was flooded by thousands of Muslim refugees.

It was a UN-protected enclave until July 11, 1995, when it was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces who loaded thousands of men and boys onto trucks, executed an estimated 8,000 and threw their bodies into mass graves.

The atrocity was ruled genocide by a UN war crimes court.

In Bosnia, popular poems are still chanted in Oric's glory for his defence of Srebrenica.