The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives
Joaquìn Guzmàn
The world’s most wanted man. Known as El Chapo, or Shorty, he has
been extending his violent control over corridors in Mexico used to
smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. He is believed to be hiding
in the mountains of Northwest Mexico in the state of Durango. Guzmàn has
evaded capture ever since 2001, when he escaped from a Mexican prison
in a laundry cart after Mexican courts ruled he could be extradited to
the U.S. At age 53, he now leads the Sinaloa cartel. The DEA believes he
is more powerful today than he was two or three years ago.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Whether he ends up leading Al Qaeda or not, al-Zawahiri is still wanted by the U.S. government, which indicted him for his role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed hundreds of people. Osama bin Laden’s former deputy, he was for years the number two man in Al Qaeda. He is viewed as being divisive within Al Qaeda, but now that bin Laden is gone he is the terror group’s most infamous leader
Dawood Ibrahim
The most-wanted man in India reportedly had to postpone the wedding
reception of his son after a recent shooting outside his brother’s
house left a bodyguard dead. Ibrahim has for years led a 5,000-member
criminal syndicate known as D-Company. The organized crime group has
engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly
in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates. Ibrahim shares
smuggling routes with al Qaeda, the U.S. government says, and has
collaborated with both al Qaeda and its South Asian affiliate,
Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks,
possibly with Ibrahim’s help. Ibrahim is suspected of having organized
the 1993 Bombay bombings that killed 257 people and wounded 713. Though
the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is probably in Pakistan,
where he has important ties to the powerful intelligence service.
Semion Mogilevich
The face of Russian organized crime was briefly arrested in 2008 in
Russia amid accusations of tax evasion at a cosmetics retailer. His
lawyers said Mogilevich was innocent of the tax charges, and he was
released in 2009. The U.S. had asked that he be handed over in
connection with a $150 million stock fraud, but with no extradition
treaty between the U.S. and Russia, there was never much chance of it.
The FBI sees Mogilevich as more than just a stock swindler and links him
to allegations ranging from murder-for-hire to weapons trafficking to
possibly trafficking in nuclear materials. Mogilevich has denied such
accusations, but last year the FBI set up a special Threat Focus Cell to
focus on Mogilevich, indicating that he is still seen as a major
criminal threat.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi
Osama Bin Laden’s former secretary, al-Wuhayshi is the leader of Al
Qaeda’s increasingly powerful affiliate in Yemen, known as Al Qaeda in
the Arab Peninsula. He escaped from a maximum security prison in Yemen
in 2006 and is able to operate in an unstable country that is perfect
for cultivating new recruits and money. Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula
has clearly indicated a desire to attack the U.S., taking responsibility
for underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and, according to
Abdulhakim Muhammad, backing his deadly assault at a military recruiting
office in Little Rock.
Matteo Messina Denaro
The head of the Italian mafia is trying to survive the Italian police’s historic assault on the world’s most infamous criminal group. In recent months, most of the most-wanted mafia fugitives, like Giorgio De Masi, have been nabbed by Italian police. Denaro has managed to remain free. Nicknamed “Diabolic,” Denaro was only emerging as a leader of the Italian mafia following the capture of Bernardo Provenzano when Denaro appeared on the first Forbes Most Wanted list three years ago. Since then arrests of other top mafia men leave no doubt that he is the new boss. The Italian mafia’s playboy, Denaro is known for living a fast lifestyle, driving Porches and fancying Rolex watchesAlimzhan Tokhtakhounov
Originally from Uzbekistan, Tokhtakhounov is a big-time Russian
mobster known as “Taiwanchik” for his Asian features. The U.S.
government calls him a “major figure in international Eurasian Organized
Crime” who has been involved in “drug distribution, illegal arms sales
and trafficking in stolen vehicles.” He is suspected of fixing
everything from beauty pageants to Olympic events in Utah. In 2002 the
U.S. government indicted him for bribing Olympic figure skating judges.
The U.S. tried to get him after he was arrested in Italy, but the
Italians eventually freed Tokhtakhounov.
Felicien Kabuga
The most-wanted man in Africa is accused of being the key financier
behind one of the worst genocides in human history. The International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recently started special depositions in the
case against him for “serious offenses under the 1949 Geneva
Conventions, crimes against humanity and genocide,” in connection with
the massacre of over 800,000 Rwandans in 1994. The depositions were
initiated by prosecutors who feared evidence against Kabuga would be
lost or deteriorate due to the passage of time or death of witnesses.
Kabuga’s radio station incited violence against Rwanda’s Tutsi
population. He also provided transportation, and machetes and hoes that
were used as weapons.
Joseph Kony
The head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerrilla group trying to establish a theocratic government, Kony has driven the killing of civilians in Uganda and, more recently, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Sudan. Under Kony the LRA has displaced 2 million people and Kony has directed the abduction of 60,000, including 30,000 children, forcing them to fight in his campaign of murder, rape, mutilation and sexual slavery. He reputedly forces children to murder their own parents as part of their initiation into his group. The LRA has killed an estimated 2,400 civilians since 2008. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest, indicting Kony on 33 charges, including crimes against humanity and war crimesDoku Umarov
The Osama bin Laden of Russia heads the Caucasus Emirate, which aims to establish an Islamic emirate in Southern Russia. Umarov was originally a Chechen separatist, but now he is a full-blown terrorist, having claimed responsibility for terror attacks like the suicide bombings of Moscow subway stations that killed 40 people last year. The Russian government has charged him with the bombing of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport that killed 36 people in January. In May the U.S. government offered up $5 million for information leading to his capture
source:forbes
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