He was arrested as soon as he arrived on French soil. Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, was arrested this Saturday around 8 pm on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport, we learned from sources close to the matter, confirming information from our colleagues at TF1.
Officers of the air transport gendarmerie (GTA) made the arrest. This Franco-Russian, 39 years old, who was returning from Azerbaijan, got off his private jet with his guard and assistant, according to TF1.
Listed in the Missing Persons File (FPR), Pavel Durov was threatened by a French search warrant issued, on the basis of a preliminary investigation, by the youth office (Ofmin) of the national directorate of the French judicial police, which is responsible for the fight against violence against minors. A search warrant that was only activated if the person was on French territory.
Various offences
Pavel Durov was due to appear before an investigative judge last Saturday evening ahead of a possible indictment on Sunday. Still according to TF1, he is accused of various offences, which ONAF (National Anti-Fraud Office) investigators informed him of: terrorism, fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering and some child criminal matters.
In fact, French justice considers that the lack of moderation on the Telegram platform, like the lack of cooperation with the police, is the cause of the multiple offenses that occur there daily.
With its discussion groups of up to 200,000 people, Telegram messages are sometimes accused of increasing the viral potential of false information, and of spreading hateful, neo-Nazi, pedophile, conspiracy or terrorist content.
The Franco-Russian billionaire has not visited France or Europe again since this search warrant was issued. On the other hand, he often traveled to the United Arab Emirates, the countries of the former Soviet Union and even South America. So why he was at Le Bourget airport at this point is unknown.