The Irish chef Mr Conrad Gallagher is to be extradited back to Ireland next Sunday to face theft and fraud charges. Two gardaí will travel with him on the flight back to Ireland, writes Sean O'Driscoll.
An Assistant US Attorney, Ms Lara Treinis Gatz, said yesterday that US marshals would take Mr Gallagher from his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and transport him to an airport.
Mr Gallagher, who is wanted in Ireland for allegedly stealing three paintings from the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin, has been detained in Brooklyn for the last month while awaiting extradition.
He had waived his right to contest the extradition at a hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court two weeks after he was arrested outside his Manhattan restaurant, Traffic.
Mr Gallagher had fled to the United States before he was to go on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges of stealing three abstract paintings from the Peacock Alley restaurant in the Fitzwilliam Hotel in December 2000.
Formerly of Killiney, Co Dublin, he is alleged to have fraudulently passed on the paintings to a Dublin art dealer.
The Donegal-born chef was due to face trial in Ireland on October 15th, 2002, after indicating he would be pleading not guilty.