Inside story of two-year hunt for Sydney's most wanted man - Anthony Tan

ANTHONY Tan met police at the airport after reading in The Sunday Telegraph that he was wanted for the murder of Rebels bikie Edin Smajovic.

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WITHIN weeks of a police manhunt hitting the headlines, a Sydney man who has spent the past three years working overseas agreed to return to Australia, where he was immediately charged with murder.

The 27-year-old Sydney man, Anthony Tan, met police at Mascot airport after reading in The Sunday Telegraph earlier this month that he was wanted for the murder of Rebels bikie Edin Smajovic.

The arrest came after Mr Tan contacted The Sunday Telegraph via the social networking site Twitter, claiming to be surprised by the story - that placed him on a wanted list - and leaving a telephone number in Vietnam.

The Sunday Telegraph contacted police and then spoke on the telephone to Mr Tan, who revealed he was preparing to return to Australia within days. Other details of the interview cannot be published for legal reasons.

On Tuesday afternoon, just hours after landing in Australia on a Qantas flight, Mr Tan was charged with the January 9, 2009 murder of the 23-year-old former Bosnian refugee.

In the charges, police allege Mr Tan shot and killed Mr Smajovic at the Macarthur Auto Centre in Campbelltown - the caryard the accused co-owned.

A third man was believed to be present during the incident.

Police last week said Mr Tan left Australia not long after Mr Smajovic's death, having checked himself out of Liverpool hospital, where he was admitted after suffering a gunshot wound to the neck.

At the time there was no warrant for Mr Tan's arrest and no restriction on his movements in and out of the country.

An initial development in the case came shortly after the shooting, again through The Sunday Telegraph's publication of an artist's impression of a third man at the car yard on the day of the shooting.

Within days, a man had made contact with police.

It would take another two years before police issued a warrant for Mr Tan's arrest.

During his time out of Australia, Mr Tan ran an apparently successful export business and a hotel in a luxury district of Ho Chi Minh City, known as Phu My Hung.

His mother, who went to the airport on Tuesday in the unsuccessful hope of seeing her son, lived in Sydney during this time. With no extradition treaty in place between Australia and Vietnam, Mr Tan returned to Sydney of his own volition.

Detective Sergeant Keith Bristow, who led Strike Force Tirage's investigation into Mr Tan's whereabouts, said authorities had been in contact with counterparts in Vietnam but it was Mr Tan who had made contact.

The telephone interview earlier this month was not the first contact between Mr Tan and The Sunday Telegraph.

He was first approached at Liverpool hospital, recovering from an injury.

As he lay in a hospital bed recovering, surrounded by mates, Mr Tan declined to be interviewed.

"Anyone want to be interviewed by the Telegraph?" he shouted at the time, causing the room to erupt with laughter.

Later, Mr Tan's only response to questions was to declare: "Mate, I'm fine."

Tan's mother, Tran Tan, told The Sunday Telegraph that her son called her after stepping off the plane, as she waited to pick him up in the terminal. "He told me maybe two minutes and he'd be out," she said.

Instead Mr Tan was arrested as he proceeded through Customs.

Mr Tan did not apply for bail and will appear in court again on November 8.

His lawyer, Phillip Gibson, said after the brief court appearance that Mr Tan intended to defend the charges.