Notorious Aussie criminal tastes momentary freedom before being rearrested

One of Australia's most notorious criminals has been released from prison on Tuesday, only to be rearrested just moments after tasting freedom.

Convicted bank robber Brenden Abbott was released from the Brisbane Correction Center on Tuesday after servicing 18-years in prison -- mostly in solitary confinement -- for a string of armed robberies committed while trying to evade the authorities following his escape from a Western Australia (WA) prison in 1989.

Dubbed the "Postcard Bandit" for taunting the authorities over his five-and-a-half-years of evading the authorities following his escape, he was eventually caught in Queensland state with a large number of weapons, ammunition and 76,000 Australian dollars in cash.

It's believed, however, he committed robberies amounting to 5 million Australian dollars that are yet to be recovered.

Abbott, now 53, was rearrested on Tuesday morning by the Australian authorities which are seeking to extradite him back to Western Australia to serve the remainder of his eight-year sentence.

He is also wanted for questioning over another robbery in WA in the early 1990s, as well as a string of others in South Australia state.

His lawyers, however, plan to fight the extradition after the postcard bandit offered to return to WA and serve his sentences concurrently in 2002 but was rejected by the then Attorney-General. Endit