Police find Australia's most wanted man from an unusual place

A criminal named "Australia's Most Wanted Man" has been arrested during a failed attempt to cross a state border, police said.

Police had initiated a 17-day long manhunt to find the 33-year-old Mostafa Baluch after he removed his GPS enabled anklet given to him by police.

Baluch - a well-known drug smuggler - was found in a car in a transport container on the truck, police said. Police noted that they acted on a tip and reached a truck. As per officials, the container was not locked, and when they knocked on it, they heard someone knockback.

"He was quite outraged - he thought he was smarter than this," said Detective Supt Rob Critchlow of the New South Wales Police.

Officials claim that Baluch was trying to cross from New South Wales and Queensland when the police captured him from the town of Tweed, Heads around 01.00 local time on Wednesday (14.00 GMT Tuesday).

"Today is considered one of the great days of the NSW Police," said State Police Secretary David Elliott.

At the time of his disappearance, Mr Baluch was on bail on charges of importing 900 kg of cocaine from Ecuador to Australia.

Mr Elliott has since called for the decision to give Baluch bail. Police stated an "unusual" amount of funds were spent on the 17-day long hunt.

Known as Australia's most wanted man, Baloch is also accused of having a high rank in a criminal cartel, and police stated he was a threat to the public while he was on the run.

Police stated the man who was driving the truck was charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive.

Many suspects in 18 countries have been arrested after a three-year operation, jointly conceived by Australia and the FBI, seeing the app ANOM secretly distributed among criminals.