He's taken to be a criminal (5)
I believe the answer is:
thief
'a criminal' is the definition.
(I know that thief is a type of outlaw)
'he's' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'he' could be 'hi' and 'hi' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'tef' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'taken to be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for thief that I've seen before include "nicker?" , "One's inclined to take" , "Afternoon break" , "He takes" , "One who is fourth in line after a rich man" .)