A South African national who has been on the run for almost eight years has been extradited to Botswana.
The accused, Ben Dlamini, who is being charged with armed robbery, skipped the country around 2002 while on trial.
Dlamini is accused of an armed robbery of a filling station of cash amounting to P1, 400.
Last Friday afternoon at Tlokweng border post, the South African government authorities handed over Dlamini to the Botswana government authorities.
Soon after the handover, the suspect, who was under heavy police escort, was brought to the Gaborone Village Magistrate Court.
When asked by the magistrate, Kepaletswe Somolekae, why he had not been attending court since 2002, Dlamini told the court that his last mention was on the 21st of year 2000 but his case was not called and three months later he went back to his home country.
The accused tried to defend himself but he was cut short by the state prosecutor saying he is not answering the question that had been asked by the magistrate.
However, Thato Dibeela of the directorate of public prosecution said it is true that the extradition took long.
She said around May this year the accused lost his appeal case in which Botswana was then given the green light that the South African government authorized his extradition.
Since the beginning of the year, about six fugitives wanted by Botswana government to stand trial for various offences have been extradited.
In the first extradition exercise, a female drug dear, Erine Ramokate, was the first Motswana to be brought to Botswana to stand trial.
She was convicted by the Gaborone Village Court.
Two weeks ago, the Mzwinila brothers, as well as Isaac Nyoni, were also extradited from South Africa where they had been hiding for almost a year.
The suspects are accused of breaking into Home Corporation in Gaborone in which goods worth over P300 000 were stolen but only a few of the stolen items were recovered.
