U.S. authorities have nabbed an Albanian fugitive, on the run for a decade after shooting a cop and killing the officer's dad, as he was returning to Detroit from a night on the town in Windsor.
"I'm not sure if he was going to the casino or out for supper," said Chief Ronald G. Smith of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "I can't tell you for sure."
An Albanian court convicted Ndue Harusha, born in 1942, of murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm in absentia on Nov. 11, 1996.
U.S. authorities detained him at the tunnel Dec. 27. During primary inspection, they discovered that Harusha was the subject of an armed and dangerous alert, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Officers removed him from his vehicle and escorted him to secondary inspection. While questioning him and checking his identification, they confirmed Harusha was a positive match for an Interpol warrant for murder.
Gina Balaya, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit, said Harusha was denied bail Wednesday at a bond hearing. She said no date has been set for the extradition hearing.
Harusha has been living in Livonia, outside of Detroit, under permanent resident alien status. Smith said Harusha likely fled his homeland after the crimes, then gained his status in the U.S. before authorities knew of his past.
Harusha spent a night at the hospital following questioning by border officials, after complaints of feeling ill. Smith said he had high insulin levels.
According to extradition documents filed in Michigan, Harusha admitted to the shooting under questioning from U.S. customs officials, but said it was in self-defence.
Harusha also said he wasn't aware of any court proceedings against him. He said he didn't discuss the shooting when he applied for political asylum in the U.S., which he received in the late 1990s.
Smith said he didn't know how long the fugitive had been living in the Detroit area.
"I don't know what the timeline was, but my guess would be that he came to the U.S., and then the trial began in absentia and the convictions followed," said Smith.
He said he did know that Harusha had crossed the border undetected into Windsor several times over the years because the Interpol warrant didn't go into their system until October. Harusha hadn't crossed the border since then, said Smith.
DIDN'T RUN NAME
Danny Yen, spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency, said the Interpol warrant is in the Canadian system, but no one ran the man's name when he entered Canada in December.
"If an officer would have run the individual's name, it would have come up," he said.
Yen said the CBSA's computer system automatically runs licence plate numbers, but that didn't flag anything.
An officer would only run an individual's name if he or she became suspicious while questioning the person, Yen said.
"I can't speculate on the circumstances of his clearance -- when, where and what questions were asked," said Yen, adding that Harusha is a permanent legal U.S. resident.
Yen also pointed out that Canadian border guards intercept about 100 people a year wanted on warrants at the Windsor border, and reject entry to thousands of people annually.
According to the U.S. court documents, Harusha shot a police officer in the stomach and killed the cop's father during an argument at a bar.
The killing occurred on Aug. 30, 1995, in a town called Shkodra, in northern Albania.
Harusha got into an argument with a man named Metish Ujka. Ujka's son Artur, a police officer, came to his aid. Harusha pulled out a pistol. He shot and killed Metish Ujka. Harusha also shot Artur Ujka in the stomach, the documents say, but he survived.
Eyewitnesses saw Harusha flee the scene with a pistol immediately after the attack.
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