Russian sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking and arrested in Bahia for involvement in a gang should be extradited, says SSP

Russian Sergei Kotelnikov, 29, is expected to be extradited after being arrested in Salvador on Saturday (10). He was sentenced to life in prison in Russia.

He is suspected of trying to sell weapons to Brazilian criminal factions. The man was listed in Interpol's Red Diffusion for cocaine trafficking.

The capture took place in the Águas Claras neighborhood during Operation Artemis. The former soldier had been in the state of Bahia for less than 1 month.

Russian Sergei Kotelnikov, 29, sentenced to life in prison in his home country, is expected to be extradited after being arrested in Salvador on Saturday (10). The information was released by the Bahia Public Security Secretariat (SSP-BA).

According to the secretariat, the foreigner is suspected of trying to sell weapons and ammunition to Brazilian criminal factions. He would also aim to structure a distribution network for weapons, ammunition and drugs in Brazil.

What is extradition? It is the process by which a country delivers a wanted or convicted person to the courts of another country, through legal procedures. In the case of Sergei Kotelnikov, Brazilian authorities must communicate the arrest to Russia to begin the necessary procedures.

According to information released by SSP-BA, Kotelnikov was sentenced to life in prison in Russia after being caught with 600 kg of cocaine and a false document.

The former soldier was included in the so-called Interpol Red Diffusion, a mechanism used to request the location and provisional arrest of internationally wanted people, with a view to extradition or other legal procedures.

According to SSP-BA, the Russian had been in Bahia for less than a month when he was located in the Águas Claras neighborhood, in Salvador.

The capture took place during another phase of Operation Artemis, carried out by the Integrated Force to Combat Organized Crime (FICCO) Bahia, with support from the Military Police and in partnership with Interpol.

After his arrest, Kotelnikov was taken to the Federal Police headquarters in Salvador. Russian authorities would be notified about the capture to begin extradition-related procedures.

The Secretary of Public Security of Bahia, Marcelo Werner, stated that the teams intensified their actions after receiving information from Interpol about the possibility of the Russian trying to hide in the state.

"We intensified intelligence actions, after Interpol warned us about the possibility of him trying to hide in Bahia. He chose the wrong location and ended up arrested," he said.