An international manhunt was launched yesterday for the arrest of Jamaican-born American Andrew Hall who was freed by a judge on Monday because he had been held too long without trial.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser said yesterday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Hall, and that an international effort will now begin to locate him.

Once he is located the relevant authorities would be asked to arrest Hall and to start extradition proceedings.

Mr. Ratneser added: ?An investigation has also been launched to determine how Mr. Hall was able to leave the Country when the Chief Justice had ordered that his travel documents be seized.

?The Chief Justice made that order in the presence of Mr. Hall?s lawyers. I would add that anyone who is proven to have taken part in the commission of an offence by assisting Mr. Hall to leave will be brought to justice,? he said.

Mr. Ratneser said that he hoped the appeal against Mr. Hall?s discharge would be heard by the Court of Appeal in its March session.

?I am fully convinced that Mr. Justice Warner will be overruled,? Mr. Ratneser said.

Mr. Hall left Bermuda for Montego Bay, Jamaica on Tuesday after Justice Archibald Warner on Monday ruled that he could not be prosecuted for drug importation because he had been in custody without trial since his arrest on March 25, 2001.

Mr. Hall was arrested on charges of importing $1.8 million of heroin. Two others have been convicted on related charges.

In his nearly three years on remand at Westgate, Mr. Hall had not asked for any adjournments of court hearings. He denied all charges against him.

In December, Puisne Judge Philip Storr ruled that Mr. Hall?s right to a timely trial had been abused, but cited community ?outrage? if he was not tried at all.

In contrast, Mr. Justice Warner followed a Privy Council ruling which directs that if a person?s rights has been abused he or she could not be prosecuted.

Section 500 of the Criminal Code states that a person on an indictable offence shall be brought to trial within ?a reasonable time?.

Efforts to contact Mr. Hall?s lawyer Mark Diel were unsuccessful yesterday. On Thursday he confirmed to that his client had left Bermuda, saying the indictment had been ?quashed? and that he had been released from custody.

Mr. Hall obtained emergency travel documents as Police, acting on instructions from the Public Prosecutions office, would not return his original documents.