Kinahan hitman Imre Arakas extradited to Lithuania to face murder charge

Imre Arakas, who worked as a hitman for the Kinahan cartel, has been extradited to Lithuania to face trial in relation to the murder of a pop star’s lover.

Arakas (64), whose last address was in Sopruse, Tallinn, Estonia, is wanted to face charges of murder as well as firearms and conspiracy-related charges in relation to the shooting of Deimantas Bugavicius in November 2015.

The ex-wrestler was jailed by the Special Criminal Court here for six years in December 2018, after he admitted to conspiring with others to murder James ‘Mago’ Gately in Northern Ireland between April 3rd and 4th, 2017.

He was contracted by the Kinahan crime gang to assassinate Mr Gately and had told his associates in coded text messages that he would take out his target with “one shot to the head”.

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Arakas had travelled to Ireland from Alicante in Spain on April 3rd, 2017, for the purpose of killing Mr Gately and has been in custody in Ireland since April 2017.

He has now finished his sentence in Ireland meaning he can be handed over to Lithuanian police.

Gardaí announced the extradition on Wednesday evening without naming Arakas.

“Earlier today, 4th January 2022, members of the Garda Extradition Unit, Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, surrendered an Estonian male (60s) to the Lithuanian authorities at Dublin Airport,” the Garda said in a statement.

“The male was extradited on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Lithuanian authorities in relation to an incident in November 2015.”

He has previous convictions which include causing deliberate bodily harm, escaping from prison and unlawful handling of firearms.

Last year Arakas failed in his attempt to stop his extradition back to Lithuania.

Lithuanian authorities allege Arakas supplied two nine-millimetre handguns and provided clothes and chemical cleaning substances to others before the shooting of Mr Bugavicius who was the partner of well-known Lithuanian pop star Vita Jakutiene.

Arakas was brought to Ireland by the Kinahan gang to assassinate Mr Gately as part of its feud with the Hutch criminal gang.

Gardaí received information he was to arrive in Ireland and placed him under surveillance immediately, which ultimately led to his conviction.

Arakas first came to public attention in his native Estonia in the 1980s when he broke into a shooting club in Tallinn and stole 13 handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

He later became a significant figure in Estonian organised crime. Arakas later fled Estonia and established himself as an international criminal for hire.