The Serbian police have managed to capture the armed attacker who was threatening to blow himself up in the office of the Serbian President in downtown Belgrade.

57 year-old Dragan Maric had announced his plan in an e-mail sent to various government addresses.

Maric said in the e-mail that he would blow himself up if a court did not rule in his favor in an unspecified case by 4 pm Thursday.

The negotiation with Maric, who is reported to be mentally unstable, took five hours Thursday afternoon and evening, with the police forces eventually managing to seize the two grenades from him.

Maric had personal motives for the attack and it had nothing to do with the Belgrade visit of the US Vice-President Joseph Biden the day before.

Maric is the owner of a firm called Inter Lizing, which has been suing another firm, JAT over a debt of USD 984 000. The court has ruled that Maric's claim was unfounded.

Before walking into the Serbian President's Office with two grenades on Thursday, Maric visit the commercial court in question where he left a threatening letter demanding that he get a government compensation, BGNES reported.

In 2004, Maric staged a hunger strike before the Serbian Parliament threatening to set himself on fire if his family did not get at least part of the sum that he says had been stolen from his firm.