South Africa extradites suspect to Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The Republic of South Africa has extradited its citizen Alexander Bely, who was accused by Russia of establishing a criminal community, selling super-potent substances and money laundering.
"It has been established that in 2003-2005, the suspect, who is a citizen of the Republic of South Africa and permanently resided on the territory of this state, set up a criminal community together with Russian citizens Andrei and Yevgeny Bykov with the aim of smuggling the super-potent substance ephedrine from South Africa into Russia and selling it there," Russian Prosecutor General's Office spokesperson Marina Gridneva told Interfax.
"They planned to earn more than $1 million from these illegal operations," she said.
Bely was declared internationally wanted in February 2006. The man was detained and remanded into custody in South Africa in April, after which the Russian Prosecutor General's Office forwarded an extradition request, which was granted by the South African authorities in June 2007.
Bely lodged an appeal contesting the extradition ruling with South Africa's Supreme Court, which agreed to order a new hearing into the request for his extradition.
