The French murderer known as “The Serpent” has been freed from prison in Nepal after serving most of his sentence for the murders of American and Canadian backpackers.

Charles Sobhraj, whose reputation as a disguise and escape artist earned him the nickname, was serving two life sentences in Nepal for the murders of Connie Jo Bronzich and Laurent Carriere in 1975.

Sobhraj, 78, was driven out of Central Jail in Kathmandu on Friday in a heavily guarded police convoy to the immigration department, where he will wait for his travel documents to be prepared.

The country’s supreme court had ordered his release on the grounds of poor health, good behaviour and having already served most of his sentence.

The Frenchman is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong during the 1970s.

He is thought to have mostly targeted young backpackers on the hippie trail and also became known as the Bikini Killer as the bodies of several female victims were found in swimwear.

Sobhraj’s release order stipulates that he has to leave the country within 15 days.

Gopal Siwakoti Chitan, his lawyer, said that the request for the travel documents must be made by the immigration department to the French embassy in Nepal, which could take some time.

Offices are closed over the weekend for the Christmas holiday.

Sobhraj was jailed in Nepal in 2004 after being spotted at a casino in Kathmandu and arrested.

He had previously spent two decades in Delhi’s maximum-security Tihar prison, but the trial in Nepal was the first time he had been convicted of murder.

Thailand issued a warrant for the arrest of Sobhraj in the 1970s on charges of drugging and killing six women, all wearing bikinis, but he was jailed in India before he could stand trial on those charges.