"Most wanted" Thai fugitive arrested on Bali after 17-hour speedboat escape

One of Thailand's most wanted fugitives will be escorted home on a Thai air force plane after being arrested on Indonesia's tourist island of Bali following months on the run in connection with several killings and drug trafficking charges in his homeland, officials said Monday.

Chaowalit Thongduang escaped from detention in Thailand while being treated at a hospital. When he was detained Thursday, he was using a fake Indonesian national identity card which he received shortly after arriving in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh in December after a 17-hour speedboat trip from India, said Wahyu Widada, head of the Indonesian National Police's Criminal Investigation Department.

"The fugitive who was secured is one of the most wanted fugitives by Thailand authorities because (he) had committed many crimes before eventually fleeing to Indonesia to hide," Widada said.