By Arun Kumar

Washington, Aug 24 (IANS) A Indian-Canadian truck driver who had been sought for more than 12 years in the slaying of his former Indian girlfriend in Canada has been arrested after a traffic stop in southern California.

Ninderjit Singh, a Canadian citizen who lives in San Jacinto, California, is being detained on a provisional arrest warrant, the first step toward extraditing him to Vancouver, US immigration officials said Tuesday.

Singh is wanted there in the 1999 shooting death of Poonam Randhawa, according to a statement from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The case was featured on "America's Most Wanted" in July 2000. According to Vancouver detectives, the programme generated a number of leads, but the fugitive continued to elude capture.

But within the past two weeks, agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations received information from Vancouver police that Singh, 33, might be in the Los Angeles area. HSI agents quickly located Singh, who had been making a delivery out of state, and began tracking his movements.

At about 11:30 a.m. Friday, California Highway Patrol officers pulled Singh's big rig over in Irvine and issued him a ticket. Thumbprints taken during the traffic stop verified Singh as the long-sought fugitive, and he was arrested.

According to authorities, Randhawa was last seen alive with Singh in a vehicle near her school in Vancouver and her body was found a short time later on a nearby street.