Smiling brazenly, Peru's ex-spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, Latin America's most wanted man, was taken to a temporary jail tonight after being flown home to face trial for corruption, embezzlement and murder.
Wearing a beige jacket and jeans, Montesinos, his wrists handcuffed, was led out of a police car and past a crush of reporters and photographers to a dungeon cell beneath the law courts for initial questioning.
He looked straight ahead, apparently unperturbed by his shock capture in Venezuela on Saturday, and smiled.
His hair looked grayer and he had stubble but, contrary to media reports that surfaced while he was on the run, Montesinos did not appear to have undergone plastic surgery.
The former spy chief, a cashiered army captain who was jailed briefly in the 1970s for selling secrets to the CIA, was flown home earlier in the day. US State Department spokesman Mr Phil Reeker said Washington played a vital role in his arrest and the FBI provided key leads.
'It's my turn to lose', La Republicanewspaper quoted Montesinos as telling Interior Minister Antonio Ketin Vidal when he was handed over. His words echoed those of Peru's then most wanted man, Shining Path rebel leader Abimael Guzman, when he was caught by Ketin Vidal in 1992.
Montesinos triggered a corruption scandal last September that plunged Peru into unprecedented political crisis, sparked coup fears and toppled then-President Alberto Fujimori.
The capture of Fujimori's chief henchman is sure now to turn up the heat on the ex-president himself - the highest profile figure implicated in corruption scandals linked to Montesinos. Fujimori is in self-exile in Japan, protected by dual citizenship from escalating moves to have him, too, brought to trial.