Taipei - Taiwan authorities Thursday deported a US doctor to face trial in California for allegedly drugging at least 19 male patients and taking nude photos of them.

Police put Tony G Shiu on board a United Airlines flight, to be flown back to California accompanied by two US police officers, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said.

The Chinese-American allegedly drugged at least 19 male patients between 2003 and 2006 at his Dublin, California, clinic.

Police launched a probe after receiving reports from two men - a patient and a friend - who claimed they had been drugged and sexually assaulted, and one raped - while spending a night at Shiu's home.

When police searched Shiu's home, they found 450 digital photos of patients, drugged and nude or semi-nude.

In September 2006, Shiu fled to Taiwan, prmpting the district attorney's office in California to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Shiu had since been hiding in Taiwan, teaching English at language schools under the name of Tony Jiang, moving several times to avoid arrest.

After learning about Shiu's criminal past, Taiwan police arrested him in Taipei on May 20 and deported him Thursday to face trial in the US. (dpa)