A Russian crypto millionaire and his wife were kidnapped and dismembered after being lured to meet ‘investors’ in the United Arab Emirates.
Roman Novak, 38, and his wife Anna were last seen alive a month ago when they drove to meet who they thought were investors in Dubai‘s mountain resort Hatta.
The Dubai-based couple – who boasted of an affluent life of fast cars and private jets on social media – were ‘extorted’ for crypto-currency, said reports citing law enforcement.
Just before disappearing Novak had obtained a highly collectable elite British AC Cobra car.
It is believed that the couple were driven to Hatta by their personal driver who took them to a car park by a lake before they transferred to a different vehicle for the remainder of the journey.
It was at this time, Novak had messaged contacts in his phone to say he was ‘stuck in the mountains on the Oman border’ and desperately needed £152,000.
‘Subsequently, contact with the young couple was lost,’ said Svetlana Petrenko, of the Russian Investigative Committee.
Their phones were then tracked for two days in Hatta, and next in Oman and Cape Town where the signals vanished in early October. It is now believed the killers arranged for the victims’ phones to be turned on in order to confuse investigators
