World

Australia's most wanted fugitive captured

21:49 pm on 22 March 2012

Australia's most wanted man has been caught after nearly seven years on the run.

Police officers arrested Malcolm Naden, a suspected murderer, at a remote farmhouse 260 kilometres north of Sydney.

Malcolm Naden, a former abattoir worker, was finally detained in a midnight raid after 20 officers with police dogs surrounded a house in New South Wales.

He had been on the run since 2005 after allegedly killing a woman.

The BBC reports that he is a bushcraft expert who repeatedly eluded police searches.

In December last year, police nearly caught him after surrounding what was believed to be his makeshift camp site near the village of Nowendoc. But he managed to escape.

A reward of A$100,000 was offered at the time - the first time such a big bounty was used in Australia since the days of outlaw Ned Kelly in the 19th century.

Mr Naden has been charged with attempted murder for the shooting of a police officer during that December manhunt.

He was also charged with the murder of 24-year-old Kristy Scholes in 2005, and two counts of aggravated indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl in 2004.