Washington: US authorities have arrested
an Indian national, who featured on the "America`s Most
Wanted" TV show, in Los Angeles over the 1999 slaying of his
teenage ex-girlfriend in Canada.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today said
33-year-old Ninderjit Singh, also a green card holder of
Canada, has been arrested by the federal authorities on
Friday.
Singh, who works as a long-haul truck driver, is
currently being detained on a provisional arrest warrant, the
first step toward extradition to Canada.
Singh`s capture marks the culmination of a manhunt that
began in 1999 with the shooting death of his 18-year-old
ex-girlfriend Poonam Randhawa in Vancouver, ICE said.
According to investigators with the Vancouver Police
Department, Randhawa was last seen in a vehicle with Singh
near her school. Her body was found a short time later on a
nearby street.
His case was featured on "America`s Most Wanted" in July
2000, which had generated a number of leads, but the fugitive
had continued to elude capture until last week.
Singh was taken into custody on Friday following a
traffic stop traffic stop near his San Jacinto, California.
"After more than a decade, this fugitive likely believed
he was in the clear, but he underestimated the determination
of Canadian and US law enforcement," said Claude Arnold,
special agent in charge for ICE?s Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles.
The break in the long-running search came, ICE said,
within the last two weeks after local HSI agents received
information from the Vancouver Police Department indicating
Singh might be in the Los Angeles area.
Using the new leads provided by the Canadian authorities,
HSI agents quickly located Singh, who had been making a
delivery out of state, and began tracking his movements.
On Friday morning, California Highway Patrol officers,
working in concert with HSI, pulled Singh`s big rig over in
Irvine, California, and issued him a ticket.
"Thumbprints taken during the traffic stop verified Singh
was the murder suspect. After confirming Singh`s identity with
the Vancouver Police Department, HSI agents and local officers
moved in to make the arrest," ICE said.
"In a world where everyone wants instant gratification it
is all too easy to abandon cases that aren`t solved quickly,"
said Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke.
"We wouldn`t let that happen to Miss Randhawa and her
family, or any victim of a crime. We are grateful to our
partners in the United States who helped us catch this man,"
Lemcke said.
PTI
