Fugitive American nabbed in Mamallapuram

Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, May 23 (UNI) A 60-year-old US national, who had been eluding the Interpol dragnet since November 2004, for illegally slipping into India while on parole, after serving a sentence for 15 years, was arrested here today.

According to police, a businessman, Alan Jay Horowitz, had been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a court in New York, in the USA in 1991 on the charge of indulging in sexual relations with minor children, including his ten-year-old adopted son.

However, the paedophile had been granted parole after serving 15 years of his sentence. The Interpol had again issued an arrest warrant against him after he reached Bangalore and slipped into Chennai, after visiting Asian countries.

The US Consul General in Chennai met Tamil Nadu DGP and informed the latter that Horowitz was hiding in Tamil Nadu and asked him to arrest the American and inform the Consulate.

Following this, a special police team from Kancheepuram was deployed to apprehend Horowitz, hiding in a rented house in Mamallapuram town, near Chennai. When the police team went to the house, Horowitz managed to give them the slip. However, the police team nabbed him from an auto-rickshaw in front of a five star hotel in the town. During interrogation, it came to light that Horowitz possessed a number of fake passports.

The American was produced before a local court in Thirukazhukundram, which remanded him for 15 days. Later, he was lodged in the Central Prison of Puzhal in Chennai.

UNI