World's Most Wanted Fugitives
They spell danger and have eluded the local cops and international organizations for years. Here's a look at the World's 10 most wanted fugitives.
May 17, 2010 11:37 IST
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They spell danger and have cleverly eluded local police, armies and international organizations for years. Many of these dangerous criminals have been on the run since decades and continue to grow more powerful.
Since Forbes' Most Wanted Fugitives list first appeared in April 2008, not a single one of the criminals has been brought to book.
This year's list features Osama bin Laden at the top for the second time.
Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted man suspected of having organized the 1993 Mumbai bombings, figures third on the list.
A look at the ten most dangereous faces of crime. -
Osama bin Laden
The most wanted man in the world has evaded capture for the last eight years.
The man believed to be behind the horrific September 11, 2001 attacks is said to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas, but US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said in recent months that the US does not have good intelligence on Bin Laden's whereabouts and it might be years before he is caught.
The US State Department is still offering $25 million for information leading to his capture. (AFP Photo) -
Joaquin Guzman
He is the world's most notorious drug trafficker and he continues to grow stronger and more powerful. Known as el Chapo, or Shorty, Guzman heads Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and over the last two years he has extended his control over corridors in Mexico used to smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the US. (AFP Photo) -
Dawood Ibrahim
The most wanted man in India, Ibrahim is suspected of having organized the 1993 Bombay bombings that killed hundreds of people. Leading a 5,000-member criminal syndicate, D-Company, he has engaged in everything from narcotics to contract killing.
According to the US government, Ibrahim collaborated with both Al-Qaida and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, possibly with Ibrahim's help. -
Semion Mogilevich
The face of Russian organized crime was briefly arrested in 2008 in Russia and hence was excluded from Forbes' first Most Wanted list. However, he was released in 2009 after his lawyers said Mogilevich was innocent of the tax charges.
Mogilevich has been linked to allegations ranging from murder-for-hire to weapons trafficking to possibly trafficking in nuclear materials. Mogilevich has denied such accusations. -
Matteo Messina Denaro
The Italian mafia remains the most famous organized criminal group, and Matteo Messina Denaro has taken control of it. Denaro, nicknamed "Diabolic," appeared on the first Forbes Most Wanted list two years ago when he was only emerging as a leader of the Italian mafia, one of the most famous organised criminal group.
The Italian mafia's playboy, Denaro is known for living a fast lifestyle, driving Porches and fancying Rolex watches. -
Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
Also known as "Taiwanchik", Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov is originally from Uzbekistan. He is suspected of fixing everything from beauty pageants to Olympic events in Utah. In 2002 the US government indicted him for bribing Olympic figure skating judges. (AFP Photo) -
Felicien Kabuga
The most wanted man in Africa is accused of being the key financier behind one of the worst genocides in human history, the massacre of over 800,000 Rwandan men, woman and children in 100 days of terror in 1994.
A US official recently said the rich businessman was hiding in Kenya, but the Kenyan government strongly denied it. -
Joseph Kony
The head of the Lord's Resistance Army, a guerrilla group trying to establish a theocratic government, Kony has driven the killing of civilians in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He reputedly forces children to murder their own parents as part of their initiation into his group. (AFP Photo) -
James "Whitey" Bulger
The FBI has pursued him for more than a decade yet the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish-American crime family, Bulger has shown how hard it can be to capture a criminal.
He is believed to be on the run with his longtime girlfriend and has associated himself with major criminal enterprises throughout North America and Europe, including the Irish Republican Army. -
Omid Tahvili
Tahvili is the kingpin of a Persian organized crime family in Canada connected to various Triads and other global criminal groups.
Known as Nino, Tahvili walked out the door of a maximum security prison in British Columbia in November 2007 after bribing a guard with the promise of USD 50,000.
The US government wants him for his alleged operation of a fraudulent telemarketing business that scammed USD 3 million from elderly American victims.
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