A convicted rapist on the run for five days after escaping immigration detention while awaiting deportation has been caught.

Michael Angok was being transported from Villawood Immigration Detention Centre to a western Sydney hospital for medical treatment when he escaped on Wednesday.

An initial search by NSW Police found some of his personal items thrown onto the road a few hundred metres away, but the 30-year-old disappeared.

Officers tracked him down on Sunday, about 25km away in northwestern Sydney, in the suburb of Seven Hills.

He was captured in a dramatic confrontation about 4pm after he tried to make another run for it.

Angok was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in a gang rape at Doonside park in 2014 with four other males.

He had served his sentence for the offence and was being held in custody as an immigration detainee awaiting deportation.

Immigrants who have served a prison sentence for crimes committed in Australia have become a hot-button political issue since 2023, when the High Court found keeping them in indefinite detention was unlawful and a number were released.

A desperate manhunt was conducted for immigration detainee Michael Angok
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The convicted gang rapist escaped from Bankstown Hospital on Wednesday morning
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Michael Angok escaped from Bankstown Hospital on Wednesday and was caught on Sunday

Michael Angok was one of four males involved in a night attack on the girl at a park (pictured)
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Michael Angok was one of four males involved in a night attack on the girl at a park (pictured)

While some of the detainees had serious criminal convictions, including murder and rape, others were convicted of less serious charges.

They had finished serving their sentence behind bars before being placed in immigration detention over visa issues.