Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2013/01/08/cybercrook_suspect_thai_arrest/

FBI-wanted US bank hack suspect chills in Bangkok cooler

Algerian cuffed for allegedly siphoning millions

By John Leyden

Posted in Security, 8th January 2013 16:02 GMT

Vid An alleged computer hacker implicated in the theft of millions of dollars from US banks accounts has been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

Hamza Bendelladj, 24, is accused of raiding private accounts held with 217 banks and financial companies worldwide in order to fund a lavish lifestyle. His alleged exploits reportedly propelled Bendelladj towards the top of an FBI most-wanted cyber-criminals list. The Feds has been tracking the computer science graduate for three years.

Bendelladj, originally from Algeria, was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after arriving from Malaysia for a connecting flight to Cairo, Egypt. He was later paraded before the world's media, apparently untroubled by impending extradition proceedings and sported a wide grin - as this video shows:

"When asked what he did with the money, he said he spent it on traveling and a luxurious life like flying first class and staying in luxury places," Thai Immigration Police chief Phanu Kerdlabphol told reporters, AFP reports. The Bankok Post said Thai police cuffed and detained Bendelladj following a tip-off from the FBI. It's alleged Bendelladj's main tools were a notebook computer and a satellite phone, the paper adds.

He now faces extradition from Thailand to the United States. ®