KEY POINTS:
Two Auckland police officers are headed to the United States following the arrest of New Zealand murder accused Nai Yin Xue.
Xue was arrested in Chamblee, a town on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday (NZ time) after a six-month manhunt across the United States.
He has been wanted since September following the death of his wife Anan Liu in Auckland and the abandonment of their three-year-old daughter Qian Xun Xue at a Melbourne railway station.
New Zealand investigation head Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Scott said two detectives would leave today for Atlanta.
Once there they will meet with US law enforcement authorities and speak with witnesses to the arrest of Xue.
"Arrangements for the escorted return of Mr Xue back to New Zealand are being managed by the authorities in the United States," Mr Scott said.
"We're very comfortable with what has transpired so far in the proceedings. The level of co-operation being given to New Zealand Police by all the authorities in the United States is superb."
Xue appeared in court in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday on charges of being a fugitive and being wanted in New Zealand.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said yesterday he would be deported to New Zealand, a quicker process than extradition, which could take up to 45 days.
"My understanding is that he has been illegally in the country because he was an overstayer," New Zealand's police liaison officer Sandra Manderson in Washington said today.
"He signed a form saying how long he would be in the United States when he arrived and now he has been in the country too long and therefore has no legal right to be here."
Xue went on the run since last year, when his wife Anan Liu's corpse was found in the boot of his car outside the family home in Auckland on September 19. His three-year-old daughter Qian Xun Xue was found abandoned at Melbourne railway station four days earlier.
Xue then flew to Los Angeles, and vanished. Xue featured on America's Most Wanted, and was found after some people he befriended in Atlanta recognised him from a Chinese newspaper.
A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Pat Reilly, told the Associated Press if Xue was placed in ICE custody, he could be on a plane back to New Zealand within two weeks provided all the paperwork was in order.
A person without legal ties to the US who is arrested in the country for a crime in another country can be deported under certain circumstances without the same due process given to US citizens, Ms Reilly said.
- NZPA
