Officers from the Organized Crime, Serious and Serial Crimes Department of the State Police detained in Latvia David Krumiņš, a former fighter of the French Foreign Legion, who had previously been declared internationally wanted, police reported.
Tomorrow, May 22, he will be brought to court to decide on the measure of restraint — arrest, and then, after the necessary procedures are followed, he will be handed over to Germany.
As previously reported by LETA, Krumiņš, accused of organizing a kidnapping, evaded extradition to Germany.
Earlier, the police explained, without naming the individual, that after the decision to extradite a person to a foreign state came into effect, the Prosecutor General's Office instructed the police to organize the transfer of Krumiņš to representatives of law enforcement agencies of another country. Since no measure of restraint related to deprivation of liberty was applied to him, the man was informed about the time and place of the transfer.
Krumiņš confirmed receipt of the information, but did not appear at the appointed time and place.
The Prosecutor's Office reminded that Krumiņš was detained in November 2025 during an international operation. At that time, the police requested the court to place him in custody, but the court, considering his personal characteristics and promises to cooperate, denied the arrest, applying a milder measure of restraint.
After that, Krumiņš was declared internationally wanted for evading the execution of the extradition decision. The Prosecutor's Office instructed the police to detain him.
In the press, Krumiņš was referred to as a participant in various television shows and an influencer. From his past interviews, including with the portal "apollo.lv", it follows that he served for eight years in the French Foreign Legion and claimed that he was part of a close protection unit (bodyguards) that eventually planned to become a private army. During one of the training projects in Myanmar, he allegedly spent 35 days in captivity.
In November of last year, during an international operation led by the German police, in which the Latvian police, as well as law enforcement agencies from Denmark, France, and Europol participated, four Latvian citizens were detained on suspicion of organizing a kidnapping in Germany.
The operation targeted a group of mercenaries hired by a competing organized crime group to kidnap the leader of an Albanian drug trafficking network. The plan was to abduct a person connected to the organization that stole several tons of marijuana worth millions of euros.
Based on previously obtained information about the planned crime and with the support of German colleagues, officers from the International Cooperation Department and the Organized Crime Unit identified the organizer and his accomplices — all of whom turned out to be Latvian citizens.
During the investigation, evidence of their involvement was collected, and in January of this year, with the support of the anti-terrorism unit "Omega", a man born in 1990, who took on the organization of the kidnapping, was detained in Riga. The other participants were detained in France, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.
All suspects had special training and equipment for committing the crime. The organizer was a former legionnaire of the French Foreign Legion. Two other participants had previously been detained in Germany.
Europol's website states that the operation targeted Latvian citizens, some of whom had previously served in the French Foreign Legion. These highly qualified individuals had professional equipment and acted in the interests of an organized crime group.
On the day of the operation, four people were arrested in Denmark, France, Latvia, and the United Kingdom, while two detainees in Germany, arrested back in October 2024, have already been convicted by the court.
Europol notes that the operation is related to a growing phenomenon where criminals offer their services to carry out violent actions on behalf of other criminal syndicates. In this case, criminal groups hired well-trained specialists to perform forceful tasks.
According to the investigation, former special forces fighters are increasingly being used in organized crime. Some suspects in this case are former military personnel of the French Foreign Legion.
Europol also noted a worrying trend related to the war in Ukraine: former military personnel with combat experience may use their skills in the interests of organized crime after returning from the front, creating a potential security threat.
