Man who escaped custody at Melbourne funeral arrested in Far North Queensland

A 47-year-old man who escaped supervised custody while attending his brother's funeral in Melbourne has been arrested in Far North Queensland. Victoria Police said Queensland officers, assisted by Fugitive Squad and Major Drug Squad detectives, detained Orijol Rukaj in Bamaga, near Cape York, on November 13.

Rukaj had been on remand when he was allowed to attend the funeral at Keilor East cemetery on April 25 under the supervision of corrections officers. Police said he was last seen there at about 1.30pm and left the cemetery unnoticed during the service. His earlier detention on drug-importation charges was a remand matter, not a conviction established by this arrest.

Investigators had searched for him for more than six months without a confirmed sighting after the funeral. On June 9, police visited 20 addresses across metropolitan Melbourne to speak with associates and seek information. The Friday arrest places him in Queensland custody, rather than confirming earlier assumptions that he remained in Victoria.

Victoria Police Fugitive Squad detectives are expected to interview him in the coming days and seek his extradition to Victoria. That process had not been reported as completed when police announced the arrest. Police did not explain how he travelled between the states without a confirmed sighting, and the arrest announcement does not establish the outcome of the underlying criminal charges.