FBI hacker suspect is nabbed at Bkk airport
Police have arrested an Algerian man they said was a suspected hacker wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for his alleged high-profile hacking into bank accounts, which once earned him US$10 million (Bt304.6 million).
The suspect, Hamza Bendelladj, was apprehended following an international warrant on Sunday night at Suvarnabhumi airport during a flight transit from Malaysia to Cairo.
He has been in Thai custody pending extradition to the US for prosecution for wiring and banking frauds to the US state of Georgia, where a court has issued a warrant for his arrest.
Police said they would hand him to American authorities for legal action in a case of bank embezzlement filed with a US court.
Police had seized from him a yellow Acer notebook computer, an Apple MacBook Air, a Microsoft-enabled tablet, a satellite phone and a number of external hard disks. Police said the FBI had been tracking him for the past three years. Bendelladj, who graduated in computer sciences in Algeria in 2008, has allegedly hacked private accounts in 217 banks and financial companies worldwide.
During a press conference, Bendelladj denied all wrongdoings. Responding to reporters’ questions onhim being one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted criminals, he said with a laugh: “I'm not in the top 10, maybe just 20th or 50th. “I am not a terrorist,” he added.
The FBI’s top 10 most wanted list on its homepage does not have Hamza Bendelladj in the ranking.
Meanwhile, DPA reported that a German man based in Chiang Mai suspected of abducting and having sex with minors has been arrested.
The unnamed 52-year-old suspect, from Munich, was arrested at his rented house, police said. “When we raided his house this morning we found him with two boys under the age of 15,” police added.
The suspect has been living in Chiang Mai on a retirement visa for five years. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in jail.
