A brutal killer who used plastic surgery and acid to change his appearance and assumed multiple fake identities has finally been detained in Russia after 17 years on the run.
Igor Kuzmenko, who also went by the names Vladimir Kishko, Viktor Kuzmenko and Roman Marchuk, had multiple fake passports which he used to evade the authorities.
He even burned his fingerprints with acid, which he claimed happened after an accident at work, but which police suspect he did to help evade capture.
Kuzmenko was part of ‘Les’ – a gang responsible for more than 50 murders – was snared trying to leave Russia using a fake Ukrainian passport.
Among their first victims was Boris Terpugov, who was chairman of Rodnik bank and gunned down near the headquarters of the Russian government in 1999.
Kuzmenko was first detained 17 years ago in Rostov-on-Don for an axe attack but fled the court before vanishing.
It is alleged that he battered Sochi businessman Alexander Raznikov to death with a crowbar.
Other muders that he is thought to have been in involved in were disguised as domestic incidents.
Many of ‘Les’ fellow gangsters have long been arrested and jailed, with one being extradited from Spain and receiving a sentence of 23 years.
Police say Kuzmenko lived in several different countries, including Ukraine, but was caught while on a trip to Rostov, southern Russia.
Yulia Ivanova, senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee in Moscow, said: ‘Kuzmenko underwent a plastic surgery, radically changing his appearance, and at the same time destroyed the papillary patterns on his fingers.’
Once caught, local Russian media reported he ‘behaved like a professional spy from the movies.’
Kuzmenko is on trial alongside two other men also part of the gang.
He is accused of murder, attempted murder, gangsterism, robbery and trafficking weapons.
Kuzmenko is understood to be facing a life sentence if convicted.
