Kathmandu: Notorious international criminal Charles Sobhraj, accused of murdering and robbing scores of tourists around Asia, was on September 19 arrested by police from a casino in Kathmandu.

Sobhraj, 60, a French national who spent 20 years in a prison in India, was arrested by police from the Royale Casino at the luxury Yak and Yeti hotel in Durbarmarg at 4:00 am (local time), according to the security officer of the casino.

Deputy superintendent of police at the Kathmandu district police office Tek Bahadur G C arrested him when he was playing at the casino, he said.

He has been taken to the Kathmandu district police office after the arrest.

Police started hunting Sobhraj after an English-language daily 'Himalayan Times' published his photograph on September 16.

Sobhraj, nicknamed as "The Serpent" for his talent at disguise and escape, is wanted in Kathmandu for the murder of two women from the US and Canada in 1975. He had served a 20-year sentence in New Delhi's Tihar jail for drugging, robbing and killing tourists.

India had deported him to France in 1997 after a 47-day standoff, in which French authorities verified his nationality and Indian officials threatened to dump him at the French Embassy.

PTI