Nai Yin Xue, the man suspected of murdering his wife Anan Liu, was on an Air New Zealand flight due to arrive at New Aealand's Auckland International Airport at 7:15 a.m. local time on Monday (18:15 GMT Sunday).

Xue is in the custody of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers for the duration of the flight, the New Zealand Press Association reported on Sunday.

He will be arrested by New Zealand police on his arrival at Auckland.

Xue is wanted for the alleged murder of his wife in Auckland last September. He fled to the United States after abandoning his three-year-old daughter Quan Xun Xue in a Melbourne railway station. She has returned to China.

Last week after Xue evaded police for nearly six months, six members of the Chinese community in the small town of Chamblee in Atlanta, Georgia, recognized him from a picture in a Chinese journal.

They double checked his image on the America's Most Wanted website before all six leapt on him, tying his hands with his belt and knotting his trousers around his ankles so he could not run off.

Xue has been visited by New Zealand police while in custody.

He is expected to appear in Auckland District Court.