A Moldovan oligarch and former senior politician has been extradited from Greece accused of involvement in the theft of $1bn (£748m).
Vladimir Plahotniuc, 59, was flown from Athens to Chisinau on Thursday morning and then taken to a detention centre in Moldova’s capital, local officials said.
The tycoon, who faces several long-running criminal cases in Moldova, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to prove his innocence.
His extradition comes days before Sunday’s parliamentary elections, with President Maia Sandu warning that Moldova’s independence and European future are in danger because of attempts by Russia to foment violence and spread disinformation.
Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019, when his Democratic Party was voted out of power.
On Thursday morning, he was seen being escorted from the plane he arrived in by Moldovan police and Interpol officials.
He was then put in a car and driven away from the airport.
In a post on social media, President Sandu wrote: “If you don’t give up when it’s hard and keep fighting – the whole society keeps fighting – even criminals who seemed invincible come to justice.”
His lawyer Lucian Rogac accused Sandu’s pro-EU government of turning his client’s extradition “into a tasteless political spectacle” ahead of the key elections.
The lawyer also said his client’s “fundamental rights” were violated during the extradition process that started on 22 July with his arrest in Athens’ airport at Moldova’s request.
The tycoon is one of the main suspects in the disappearance of $1bn from three Moldovan banks in 2014 – a case known as the “theft of the century”.
At the time, the sum was reported to be worth more than 10% of Moldova’s gross domestic product.
His extradition comes as the impoverished country between Romania and Ukraine is preparing for 28 September elections that will determine whether Moldova continues its integration with the EU, or returns to Russia’s political influence.
Earlier this week, Sandu accused Moscow of “pouring hundreds of millions of euros” into Moldova in a bid to stoke violence and spread disinformation and fear.
“The Kremlin believes we are all for sale. That we are too small to resist… But Moldova is our home. And our home is not for sale,” the president said.
The BBC has recently uncovered evidence of a network with ties to Moscow and fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor which has been working to spread disinformation.
An undercover reporter found people being paid to post fake content online, intended to undermine the governing party ahead of the vote. The posts have had millions of views. Shor has not responded to a BBC request for comment.
Speaking at the UN’s General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Europe could not afford to lose Moldova to Russian influence, after failing to save Georgia and Belarus from Moscow’s orbit.
Zelensky said that Russian President Vladimir Putin – who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – “will keep driving the war forward wider and deeper” if he was not stopped.
Meanwhile, Moldova’s pro-Russian parties have accused Sandu of trying to intimidate them – and sway the vote.
They also say her government is not going far enough in tackling widespread corruption.
Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service this week accused European countries of plotting the “blatant falsification” of the result on Sunday in order to provoke protests.
The SVR warned that the EU could mount “an armed incursion and de-facto occupation” of Moldova, falsely claiming that the EU was deploying troops.
Moldova declared its independence as the USSR collapsed in 1991, but it has a significant Russian-speaking population. The breakaway region of Transnistria, propped up by Moscow, is still home to a contingent of Russian troops.
One person was in cardiac arrest and several others were wounded in a stabbing incident on Tuesday at a supermarket in South Korea’s coastal city of Incheon, authorities told AFP.
“One person is in cardiac arrest and around seven others have been injured,” an official from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said.
Local media reported that a male suspect had been arrested.
South Korea is generally considered a safe country, with a homicide rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to official statistics, well below the global average of about six per 100,000.
The country has, however, seen a number of stabbing attacks in recent years.
In May 2025, a man stabbed three police officers, while three people were stabbed to death at a Seoul pizza restaurant that September.
Police officers attached to the Ekiti State Command who were captured in a viral video during a confrontation with a motorcyclist are undergoing disciplinary proceedings at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The Police Complaint Response Unit disclosed this in an update posted on X on Tuesday, saying the action followed a directive by the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu.
The update, linked to complaint tracking number CRU100953, read, “The officers in the viral video attached to Ekiti State Police Command are now at the Police Complaint Response Unit, Force Headquarters, Abuja, undergoing disciplinary actions as directed by the IGP, Tunji Disu.”
The development follows a complaint received by the Ekiti State Police Command on October 6 from representatives of the Biker Association, Federal University Oye-Ekiti chapter, over the alleged extortion and intimidation of one of its members.
In a statement issued on October 7, the command said the biker was allegedly intercepted by a police patrol team while riding alone from Itapa to Ikole-Ekiti and subjected to a demand for money under circumstances the complainants considered improper.
The command said it had identified the officers involved and taken them into custody for questioning as part of its investigation into allegations of extortion, intimidation, disobedience to lawful orders and other acts of unprofessional conduct.
It added that the investigation had been transferred to the State Police Headquarters in Ado-Ekiti for a comprehensive and impartial probe.
The Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Command, Falade Micheal, directed that the officers be subjected to appropriate disciplinary procedures in line with police regulations, subject to the outcome of the investigation.
The command said, “The Commissioner of Police strongly condemns all forms of extortion, intimidation, abuse of authority and other conduct capable of undermining public confidence or bringing the Nigeria Police Force into disrepute.”
A yet-to-be-identified man has been shot dead by two suspected assailants near the back gate of the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the incident occurred on Saturday evening while the victim was riding a motorcycle in the area.
A community source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the incident, said the assailants crossed the victim’s path before opening fire on him.
“The incident happened in the evening, and the attack was sudden. He was on a motorcycle when two masked men emerged from nowhere, shot him and fled the scene,” the source said.
A police source told our correspondent on Sunday that an investigation had commenced to establish the circumstances surrounding the killing and identify those responsible.
“We received information about the incident and are working to establish what happened and identify those responsible. Although there are indications that the shooting is cult-related,” the source said.
The police source added that the deceased’s remains had been deposited in a morgue.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, said she was not aware of the incident but promised to provide an update.
However, she had yet to do so as of the time this report was filed.
