Lithuanian national Aleksej Besciokov, wanted by the US for setting up cryptocurrency exchange Garantex allegedly to launder the proceeds of criminal activities and arrested by the CBI and Kerala police from Varkala earlier this week, was produced at Patiala House Court in New Delhi on Saturday.

Besciokov, 46, was vacationing with his family at a homestay in Varkala and
was nabbed just a few hours before he was scheduled to fly to Russia.

The Kerala police came to know about the international fugitive after the external affairs ministry, acting on a US request under the Extradition Act, 1962, obtained a provisional arrest warrant from the Patiala House Court on March 10.

Besciokov was a regular visitor to Varkala. He had rented his current homestay for ₹5 lakh per year.

Abdul Ahad, 42, a former homestay organiser and an auto driver in Varkala, told The Telegraph that Besciokov had been living in a home stay for the last nine years.

“During July 2023, one of Aleksej’s friends, Ilia Tolstikov, was deported by the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Officer, Thiruvananthapuram, for possession of narcotic substances. But none of us expected that Aleksej was a fugitive on the run and that too wanted by the US government. Aleksej keeps travelling to Lithuania and Russia. He
is a very quiet person and does not interact with anyone,” Ahad said.

Deputy inspector-general of Thiruvananthapuram, Ajitha Begum, told this newspaper that the CBI had first informed them of Besciokov. She said a social media post by Besciokov’s wife had tipped off the Interpol and helped the CBI track him down.

“She tagged Besciokov in a picture, which revealed that she was in Varkala. Besciokov has not committed any crime in India. He sent his wife and children back to Russia a few days ago. Initially, he too had planned to accompany them but later decided to stay back for a few more days before moving to Goa. The CBI and Varkala police managed to arrest him in the nick of time. We were not able to question him in detail as he was taken to New Delhi by the CBI where he was produced before the Patiala court on Saturday,” Begum said.

According to the US Secret Service documents, Besciokov allegedly “controlled and operated” Garantex, which facilitated money-laundering to the tune of at least $96 billion (over ₹8 lakh crore) in cryptocurrency transactions by transnational criminal organisations (including terror outfits) and violated sanctions. His associate and
fellow Garantex co-founder, Russian national Aleksandr Mir Serd, has also been charged with similar offences by the US agencies.

“Garantex received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds and was used to
facilitate various crimes, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, where it affected mostly the US citizens,” the documents stated.

Besciokov will be extradited to the US after the legal process is completed.