On March 10, police in Varkala―a scenic coastal retreat in south Kerala―launched an unusual manhunt. A passport-size photo and a name that twisted the tongue were their only leads. A provisional arrest warrant from a Delhi CBI court had arrived, ordering the capture of Lithuanian national Aleksej Besciokov. Just four days earlier, a US court had indicted the 46-year-old and his Russian accomplice, Aleksandr Mira Serda, on charges of money laundering via their crypto platform Garantex.
With pressure mounting, the Kerala Police combed the winding lanes of the beach town. Jojin Raj, a civil police officer assigned to the Varkala tourism police, was in the search party. “A large section of international tourists in Varkala now prefers homestays―mostly run by foreigners―over hotels or resorts,” he said. “Many tourists take properties on long-term leases, paying well, while the original owners move into rented houses. So, our focus was on homestays.”
In the afternoon of March 11, Raj headed to Kakkodu Mukku, near the famous Varkala Cliff. He saw an old foreign woman supervising the refurbishing of a homestay. “I showed her the picture, and she immediately said she had seen him,” Raj said. Encouraged, he began checking houses in the neighbourhood. His eyes landed on man in a hammock on the first floor of a nearby homestay.
“The moment he saw me, he bolted inside,” said Raj. He knocked the door and a foreigner answered. “I asked for his name, but his thick accent made it hard to catch,” he said. “Then I asked his country of origin. When he said Lithuania, a light bulb went off in my head.”
Raj asked him to come out to talk. “He said okay and went inside,” he said. “But even after a long time, he didn’t come.” Finally, the man emerged carrying a large bag and a handbag. He opened the smaller bag and offered a bundle of Rs500 notes as bribe. “At that moment, I knew he was the one,” said Raj. “I told him to wait and immediately called the search party.”
Throughout it all, the foreigner remained calm, making no attempt to escape. It wasn’t until the following morning that Raj learned exactly whom he had apprehended. This was not just any fugitive, but a key player in illicit crypto transactions worth billions of dollars. “His house was so ordinary,” said Raj. “There was nothing about it that suggested luxury.”
Kremlin-controlled crypto nerd?
According to US documents, Besciokov, who lived in Russia, was an “administrator” of Garantex, a crypto exchange. He, however, told the police that he was just an employee and Serda was his “boss”.
Besciokov and Serda are accused of operating Garantex as a money laundering platform for illicit activities, including narcotics sales, sanctions violations, ransomware attacks and hacking, and profiting from the illicit funds.
Garantex was initially registered in Estonia as Garantex Europe by Russian tech specialist Stanislav Drugalev and Moscow-based politician Sergey Mendeleev. It carved a niche by facilitating ruble conversions into other currencies while keeping users’ identities concealed. Since April 2019, it has processed an estimated $96 billion in transactions.
Notably, the Russian government was the first to go after Garantex. In September 2020, the authorities raided Durgalev’s Moscow apartment while investigating criminal gangs’ use of Garantex. Durgalev moved to Dubai but, five months after the raid, he died under mysterious circumstances―his car drove off a bridge.
According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, weeks after Drugalev’s death, Mendeleev disappeared from the firm’s shareholder lists. He was replaced by Irina Chernyavskaya, a Russian woman and partner of Pavel Karavatsky, who has ties to Russian state-controlled firms. Since then, Serda and Karavatsky allegedly consolidated power, altered the firm’s governance and enabled Russian government entities to leverage Garantex for state interests.
In February 2022, Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine began. Two months later, the US imposed its first sanctions on Garantex. A year later, the US again implicated Garantex for facilitating fund transfers for Russian elites and ransomware operators. Despite these sanctions, Garantex continued facilitating crypto trades worth billions of dollars.
While the US and Europe had been monitoring Garantex for a long time, strong action was taken only after Russia’s decision in July 2024 to allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies in international trade―a move apparently aimed at circumventing western sanctions. This put platforms like Garantex under the spotlight as potential tools for implementing Russia’s crypto strategy.
In February 2025, the EU sanctioned Garantex; the US followed suit. On March 6, the US Secret Service, in coordination with German and Finnish authorities, seized three website domains linked to Garantex’s operations.
Vacation gone wrong
On the evening of March 3, Besciokov, Julia Dudorova and their two children celebrated Užgavenes, an ancient Lithuanian festival that marks the arrival of spring. As per tradition, Lithuanians burn effigies, wear masks, dance and eat pancakes to celebrate. The Besciokov family did this, too, but little did they know that within days, a long winter was about to begin for them.
Besciokov and his family had arrived on February 11, said Varkala Deputy Superintendent of Police B. Gopakumar. “He had been leasing the homestay for the past five years,” he said. “He would visit occasionally and he used his real name and documents for government-related registrations.”
Kerala Police said Besciokov had spent time in various locations across India over the past five years. In Varkala, the family went for a lot of outdoor activities, including kayaking in Nedungolam and kite flying on Odayam Beach.
Though Besciokov maintained minimal contact with the locals, Julia regularly posted updates on social media―a detail that, according to sources, played a crucial role in the US law enforcement tracking his location.
An official request was sent to the external affairs ministry under the Extradition Act, 1962. Based on this, the CBI court issued the provisional arrest warrant.
Besciokov, meanwhile, was preparing for a return to Russia. On the morning of March 11, Julia and the children flew back. According to Sub-Inspector Baiju, part of the team that caught Besciokov, Julia had informed neighbours in Varkala about their departure. The neighbour’s cat had given birth at the Besciokov homestay. Before leaving, Julia gave the kittens to the neighbours―a small, seemingly ordinary act before their world was turned upside down.
Besciokov was scheduled to fly out of Kerala on the evening of March 11, but he was apprehended before he could catch his flight and flee.