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An international manhunt for a convicted New Zealand killer who escaped custody and fled to South America has ended with the man's capture in Brazil, New Zealand Police said Thursday.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush said Brazil's Federal Police were holding Phillip John Smith in custody after he was found at a hostel in Santa Teresa at approximately 2 a.m. New Zealand time.
His identity had been confirmed by the Washington-based New Zealand Police liaison officer who was currently in Brazil and had spoken to Smith, Bush said in a statement.
Smith, 40, was cooperative and had asked for New Zealand consular assistance.
Police were working with the Brazil authorities, Interpol and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to make arrangements to return Smith to New Zealand and he would face a court process in Brazil in relation to the Interpol red notice and the New Zealand warrant for his arrest.
Police Minister Michael Woodhouse commended the work of New Zealand and Brazilian police officers and Interpol in tracing and capturing the escaped prisoner.
"New Zealand authorities are now working with their international counterparts to bring the prisoner back to New Zealand to face justice. However, this is a complex and potentially lengthy process and it needs to be able to take its course," Woodhouse said in a statement.
"While this is good news, it's clearly unacceptable that the prisoner has been able to escape and leave the country, and we are working to understand the circumstances that led to his absconding, " he said.
Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 for stabbing to death a man whose son he had been sexually abusing.
The Department of Corrections, the Department of Internal Affairs and the police are working together to determine how Smith had got a passport, made arrangements to leave New Zealand, and who helped him.
The main opposition Labor Party has demanded an inquiry into how the Department of Corrections only became aware of Smith's disappearance two days after the fact.
Smith, who was denied parole last year because he was considered "high risk" and a "serious danger" to the community, absconded from the care of a family member during a 72-hour temporary release from a prison in the upper North Island. Enditem
