Malaysian authorities deported to Manila a fugitive former police officer accused of killing a general and a colonel during a bloody hostage-taking incident 17 years ago, immigration officials said on Saturday.

Under heavy Malaysian police escort, Rizal Alih was handed over to Philippine immigration and law enforcement officials at Manila's international airport as soon as he disembarked from a commercial flight from Kuala Lumpur.

"I'm very thankful they have allowed me to return to my family. I still want to live and be close to my 24 children," Alih, 60, told reporters when he was taken before journalists at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Immigration officials said Alih would be placed in police custody while awaiting trial for multiple murder and illegal detention charges.

Philippine security officials said Alih fled to the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah after escaping from a hostage-taking incident at a police camp in Zamboanga City on the southern island of Mindanao in January 1989.

Alih held Brigadier-General Eduardo Batalla and Colonel Romeo Abendan at gunpoint for three days after he overpowered his guards while being investigated at the police camp on graft allegations.

Alih was believed to have been killed along with the general, the colonel and 18 more people in a bungled rescue but his arrest in Sabah in 1994 shocked Philippine officials.

Malaysian police arrested Alih for killing a soldier at a border town on Jampiras island during an immigration crackdown on illegal migrants in Sabah.

He was convicted and jailed for nearly 10 years before Kuala Lumpur decided to deport him back to Manila.