Authorities have finally been able to bring wanted fugitive Abdulla Luthufee back to Maldives on Tuesday night.

While police had earlier informed that he will be transferred back on Emirates Flight 653, the flight landed at Velana International Airport around 9:10pm on Tuesday night.

Luthufee- convicted and sentenced to life over the 1988 attempted coup that took the lives of 19 Maldivians- had been in hiding since being granted medical leave in 2010.

He turned himself in to the Maldives embassy in Colombo on May 1, after the neighboring country launched a nation-wide search following the Easter Sunday terror attacks. This was only revealed to the public on June 24.

The attempted coup in capital city Malé on 3 November 1988 by a Sri Lankan militant group took the lives of of 19 Maldivians. Due to Luthufee’s involvement, he was initially sentenced to death, which was reduced to life imprisonment by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

While he was granted medical leave during former President and current Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, the former administration of Abdulla Yameen was observed to be negligent in the case as well.