Russian sentenced to life imprisonment arrested in Salvador during Operation Artemis
Sergei Kotelnikov, 29, a fugitive former Russian soldier, was captured in the Águas Claras neighbourhood in Salvador during an operation by FICCO with support from Interpol.
Former Russian soldier with life sentence captured in Bahia
Sergei Kotelnikov, a 29-year-old Russian sentenced to life imprisonment in his country for drug trafficking and use of false documents, was arrested on Saturday (10) in the Águas Claras neighbourhood in Salvador. According to g1.globo.com, the former soldier had been in the Bahian capital for less than a month when he was located by authorities.
The capture took place under Operation Artemis, launched by the Integrated Force to Combat Organised Crime (FICCO) Bahia with support from the Military Police and the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol). The Bahia Public Security Secretariat (SSP-BA) confirmed the identity of the detainee and the details of the operation.
Kotelnikov had been sentenced in Russia after being found with 600 kg of cocaine and false documents. In Brazil, according to the SSP-BA, he was attempting to sell weapons and ammunition to Brazilian criminal organisations at the time of his arrest. The former soldier's objective was to establish a distribution network for weapons, ammunition and drugs in the country.
The suspect was a target of Interpol's Red Notice — the highest level of alert issued by the organisation for wanted individuals internationally. "We intensified intelligence operations after Interpol informed us of the possibility that he might try to hide in Bahia. He chose the wrong place and ended up arrested," said Public Security Secretary Marcelo Werner.
Following his arrest, Kotelnikov was taken to the headquarters of the Federal Police in Salvador. There, procedures will be initiated to communicate with Russian courts regarding the extradition process for the former soldier.
Source: Google News BR — Crime