KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested in France on Saturday evening, according to the German news agency (dpa), citing local French reports.
The Russian billionaire reportedly arrived in the country via Le Bourget Airport near Paris from Azerbaijan before being arrested, according to the reports.
Durov, who is wanted in France, was taken into police custody, broadcasters French commercial television network (TF1) and French news broadcast television and radio network BFMTV reported, citing investigators.
According to the broadcasters, Durov had been arrested under a warrant for offences related to the popular messaging app.
TF1 reported that a preliminary investigation could be initiated against Durov as early as Sunday.
Durov, who also founded the Russian social media platform VKontakte, created Telegram alongside his brother Nikolai.
Telegram is one of Russia's most important online networks and is used by many authorities and politicians to communicate.
-- BERNAMA
BERNAMA provides up-to-date authentic and comprehensive news and information which are disseminated via BERNAMA Wires; www.bernama.com; BERNAMA TV on Astro 502, unifi TV 631 and MYTV 121 channels and BERNAMA Radio on FM93.9 (Klang Valley), FM107.5 (Johor Bahru), FM107.9 (Kota Kinabalu) and FM100.9 (Kuching) frequencies.
Follow us on social media :
Facebook : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatv, @bernamaradio
Twitter : @bernama.com, @BernamaTV, @bernamaradio
Instagram : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatvofficial, @bernamaradioofficial
TikTok : @bernamaofficial