Australian Collar Bomb Suspect Set for Reptriation
The Australian Fugitive to Come Home in the Coming Days to Face Charges
The Australian collar bomb suspect detained by authorities in the United States on August appears to be headed home much sooner.
Officials from a federal court in Kentucky, where the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Australian Federal Police tracked down and arrested Paul Douglas Peters, revealed on Wednesday that an extradition hearing scheduled on the same day had been waived by the Sydney native.
Court officials, according to Reuters, have furnished information indicating that Peters has requested the judge handling the case to move ahead with the extradition procedure that would allow both American and Australian authorities to ship him back to his country of origin.
According to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Louisville, Kentucky, Peters had already signed a document that would set in motion his immediate return, in which he either will be turned over to Australian officials or a team of U.S. agents will escort him on a flight back home.
Attorney's Office spokeswoman Stephanie Collins told reporters that Peters will soon be remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshalls until such time that coordination with Australian officials for his extradition has been completed.
Australian and U.S. officials have tagged Peters as the suspect in the Aug. 3 incident, in which he allegedly broke into the Sydney residence of Bill Pulver, a prominent local businessman and took Pulver's young daughter, Madeleine, as hostage.
Authorities said Peters forcibly strapped a device around Madeleine's neck and warned the girl that it was a bomb that can be remotely detonated.
For hours, the young girl endured wearing the gadget until authorities realized that it was a fake but by then, Peters had already vanished and weeks later, the FBI located him in Kentucky where his ex-wife has a residence.
Information provided by U.S. and Australian officials to the court showed that Peters was engaged in investment banking and had business ties with Pulver's firm.
Also, security footages supplied by the Australian police and other traces of his activities led the FBI to Peters, court records showed.