CGIE on Russian cyber crime suspect No record he passed through BIA

Inside Story: Did Sri Lankan Govt. allow one of most wanted Russian cybercriminals to escape?

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-2017-12-31

The Department of Immigration and Emigration said that there is no record of the suspected Russian cyber criminal, Manokhin Fedor Raufovich, passing through the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

Controller General of Immigration and Emigration (CGIE) M.N. Ranasinghe said there was no record of anyone by that name passing through the immigration counter, which perhaps signifies that the 22-year-old Russian is still in the country.

However, he also mentioned that the Criminal Investigation Department had so far not officially approached him in connection with the probe. The Police Media Unit also said they there had been no breakthrough in that case.

Raufovich, who was wanted by the US State Department for two different cyber crimes cases, fled that country and arrived in Sri Lanka. The US issued an arrest warrant through the Interpol, following which the Criminal Investigation Department traced him to Weligama where they arrested him and filed a case in the High Court. However, after he was released on bail, he had been loitering in Colombo without proper surveillance on him.

According to the Russian Embassy, they had also urged the Attorney General to extradite him to Russia, after Sri Lanka and Russia signed the Extradition Treaty on 6 November, 2017.
However, the US State Department urged that he be extradited to the US for him to be prosecuted there.

The suspect had been reporting to the Police every week after he was released on bail, but he suddenly disappeared.

The Russian Embassy was also in touch with the suspect till he disappeared, according to reliable sources.

After his disappearance, both Russia and the US have been on the lookout for him.

Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yury B. Materiy said they want to know his whereabouts. He also noted that suspect's passport was with the High Court, but he had vanished.

There was a speculation that the man was slipped out of the country with the Russian Delegation, using another name, on a charter plane that arrived in the country for 'Rosoboron Export' on 5 December 2017. However, the Russian Ambassador scoffed at such speculation.