Almost 11 years after escaping from Pretoria Central Prison, Kalla Abdul Kafoor will return to South Africa from India on Saturday to face the music for alleged narcotics manufacture, crime intelligence said on Tuesday.

Kafoor was arrested in Lichtenburg in 1996 but he escaped with five others, including heist kingpin Collen Chauke, in December 1997 after hijacking a car on the prison grounds.

"We had hoped to finalise his extradition by Monday but with the situation in Mumbai we have to extend the ticket to Saturday," said Senior Superintendent Tumi Golding, also spokesperson for Interpol.

An Interpol alert was still out for him when he was detected by India's Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) in October on the night and morning of 4 and 5 October at Mumbai's Sahar Airport.

According to CBI, he was with Jacob Philip, wanted in the US for dealing in various recreational drugs.

Passport details submitted and subsequent consultation with Interpol flagged them and they were arrested.

They were taken to New Delhi to wait for extradition.

Officials from both countries had put arrangements for the extradition in place and it was just left for the Justice Ministry there to sign the final release, she explained.

Once that formality is completed he is expected to return to South Africa on Saturday evening and the matter will then be dealt with by the Pretoria High Court which facilitated the extradition.

"We are very happy," said Golding. "Eleven years is a long time. There will be tight security."

Sapa