Maputo — Sometimes the wheels of justice move rapidly: on Friday evening Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho"), the man who organised the murder of Mozambique's top investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso, was returned to Maputo, slightly more than 24 hours after the South African police apprehended him on the outskirts of Pretoria.

Anibalzinho made a brief appearance in a Pretoria court on Friday morning, and the South African authorities had no difficulty in acceding to the Mozambican request for his extradition.

That he was extradited at once exceeded the expectations of Cardoso's family and friends, who believed that he would not be returned to Maputo before Saturday at the earliest.

The plane carrying Anibalzinho touched down at about 18.15 at Maputo International Airport. As he left the plane, the assassin was not wearing handcuffs - which allowed him to give an arrogant wave to the reporters, police and onlookers.

The commander of the riot police, Zacarias Cossa, assured a Mozambican Television crew that Anibalzinho would be handcuffed as soon as he was inside the waiting car.

There was no opportunity for Anibalzinho to say anything to the press, and he was whisked away to the top security prison, from which he had been illicitly released on 1 September.

Anibalzinho was tried in absentia - and just three hours before his return, the Maputo City Court sentenced him to 28 years and six months imprisonment for his part in the murder.