After searching Kraan's van, authorities were led to Kraan's new $600,000 Kane'ohe home, where they found more than 36 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives, but no Kraan.

Enter the Hawai'i Fugitive Task Force, a collaboration of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies formed in March 2003 and dedicated entirely to hunting career criminals. The task force, run by the U.S. Marshals Service, identifies the most wanted fugitives in the state, cross-deputizes police officers, city prosecutors, sheriffs and others, then applies federal resources and manpower to hunt down the bad guys.

More than 20 marshals are part of the task force, which comprises about 60 members in all.

"We're the oldest manhunters around, and we're good at it," said Mark "Dutch" Hanohano, head of the U.S. Marshals Service in Hawai'i.

Similar task forces across the country have had similar success, law enforcement officials say.

Kraan was charged in 1998 in a federal warrant with ice distribution and weapons offenses, and assumed the dubious distinction of being the first Hawai'i fugitive to make the U.S. marshals' "15 most-wanted" list.

Law enforcement officials say Kraan was elusive and intelligent, a man who could set up his criminal enterprises while on the run. Local law enforcement tried repeatedly to locate him, but finding Kraan was a full-time job.

The task force targeted Kraan in October of 2003, tracking him to California and Las Vegas. With the cooperation of federal and local officials in that area, members of the task force searched a residence and storage locker in Las Vegas, where Kraan was believed to be hiding.

In the residence, law enforcement officers found $1 million worth of marijuana plants in various stages of growth and recovered automatic weapons, some with silencers, from a storage locker. Kraan had allegedly rigged the marijuana farm with a closed-circuit television network that allowed him to monitor his plants from his laptop, anywhere in the world.

Kraan, having sensed the heat, had fled for Canada.

The task force was able to quickly inform law enforcement in neighboring states, and Kraan was arrested, without incident, at a gas station in Dubois, Idaho, on July 14. He now resides in the federal detention center at the airport here, where he awaits trial for federal drug and weapons charges.

"As far as tracking him down, he was a great challenge," said marshal Brent Naluai. "It seemed like he moved from one drug to another drug and continued his enterprise on the Mainland. For me, it's satisfying when individuals like this who have eluded authorities are brought back to face justice."

The task force is financed primarily by the federal government and has cost about $200,000 since its inception, said First Deputy Marshal Michael Ferstl. The money comes courtesy of the Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Group, a partnership of federal, state, and local law enforcement groups dedicated to drug eradication.

Since the task force got started in March 2003, 714 fugitives have been arrested for state, local or federal offenses. Almost 5 pounds of crystal methamphetamine has been seized, along with 35 weapons and 657 marijuana plants.

In executing more than 650 warrants, the task force has made more than 20 new federal cases, a goal that Hanohano says is at the forefront of every investigation.

"Based on criminal history or current crimes, we like to see if federal charges can be brought," said Hanohano.

The task force performs an invaluable service, state, local, and federal officials say, by going after career felons wanted on numerous warrants. With warrants being issued daily, a backlog of fugitives is a constant concern, and the task force works to remove the most dangerous from the community.

"If you target the right offenders, that is an extremely effective method of dealing with that type of volume work (serving warrants)," said Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle. "The priority should always be the most dangerous and the ones most likely to commit further crimes."

Christopher Tolley, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said that the task force concept is a great tool because it allows local law enforcement agencies to pool resources.

"It allows Hawai'i to address its own career criminals and address its own problems and it allows law enforcement to focus on habitual offenders, particularly the older ones," he said.

Hanohano said the task force uses three basic criteria for determining whom to target: violent offense, drug offenses and criminal history. He said operations are conducted daily on O'ahu and routinely on the Neighbor Islands, where large groups of fugitives are rounded up at one time.

"For us they bring resources that we normally don't have," said Maui Police Chief Thomas Phillips. "They take guns and drugs and felons off the street. We are kind of overwhelmed with warrants. They come out of the courts every day. This (the task force) just lets us focus some resources on bringing those numbers down."

The task force is spearheaded by the U.S. Marshals Service, founded by President George Washington in 1789 and is the oldest law enforcement organization in the country. The marshals serving warrants today serve under the same sign as those who chased Billy the Kid in the late 19th century.

Serving warrants "is the most dangerous part of law enforcement because these guys know they're wanted and they don't want to go to jail," said Hanohano. "A free fugitive is not an idle fugitive. A free fugitive is out in the community committing crimes."