Thiruvananthapuram, March 13 (IANS) A Lithuanian man, wanted in the US for a crypto currency fraud and arrested in Kerala this week, will soon be taken to Delhi to be produced before a court there, a state police official said on Thursday.
A police official, attached to the Varkala Police station which effected the arrest of Aleksej Besciokov, told IANS that he is presently in judicial custody.
“It was earlier planned to take him to Delhi by train on Thursday. But while probing the case, it seems this is a grave matter and hence the top police officials are working out a proper plan on how to go forward. Once it happens, Besciokov will then be taken to Delhi,” the official said.
Besciokov, who had US sanctions against him from 2022, had arrived with his family at the tourist location at Varkala, located about 50 km from Thiruvananthapuram, recently.
He, along with his family was staying at a homestay when the Kerala Police, acting on a directive from the Patiala House Court in New Delhi, reached there and took him into custody on Tuesday.
Besciokov had set up a crypto currency exchange ‘Garantex’, and according to the US Secret Service documents, he is alleged to facilitated money laundering to the tune of at least $96 billion (over Rs 8 lakh crore) in crypto currency transactions by transnational criminal organisations (including terrorist organisations) and violated sanctions.
The sudden action that led to his arrest arose after the Ministry of External Affairs received a provisional arrest warrant at the request of US officials.
With the gravity of the crime now coming out, the Kerala Police is unlikely to take Besciokov to Delhi by train and he is likely to be flown to the national capital.
Once in Delhi, after the necessary legal procedures, he will be then handed over to US officials for extradition.
–IANS
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