Police in Vietnam have arrested a Frenchman wanted by international police for sexually assaulting a young girl in France.

Allione Horeau Alexandre, 49, a fencing instructor from Paris, has been apprehended for the sexual assault of a nine-year-old girl, Colonel Vo Duc Than, an official from the Department of Police in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, confirmed on Tuesday.

Officers from the police department as well as the Ministry of Public Security are finalizing procedures for the transfer of the suspect to the Vietnamese office of Interpol, Col. Than said.

According to the case file, Alexandre arrived in Nantes, France in March 2016 to work as a fencing coach and sexually assaulted the young girl, who was one of his students.

The victim’s parents then filed an accusation against the man.

Police officers in France conducted an investigation and were about to detain the suspect at his home, but were too late, as he had already fled the country.

Alexandre escaped to several European nations with his wife before moving to Cambodia and later to Nha Trang, a beach city in Khanh Hoa Province.

In June, French police and Interpol issued a wanted notice for Alexandre.

Investigators discovered the fugitive staying in the Vietnamese city in November and requested the assistance of Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security in the arrest.

In late December, officers pinpointed Alexandre in a rented apartment on Tue Tinh Street and disguised themselves as local plumbers to capture him.