Arizona murder suspect arrested in Germany after fleeing US
Arizona murder suspect Varun Batchigari is awaiting possible extradition from Germany following his arrest in connection with the killing of his girlfriend, Julissa Salazar. Former Justice Department prosecutor Jim Trusty weighed in on the complex international legal process required to return Batchigari to the United States to face charges, while also addressing Vice President JD Vance’s concerns about alleged migrant welfare fraud.
FBI Director Kash Patel has significantly increased direct communication with law enforcement counterparts abroad as part of a broader push to return international fugitives to U.S. soil.
According to FBI figures obtained exclusively by News Media, Patel placed 100 calls to foreign partners during his first 18 months in the role. By comparison, his predecessor made nine such calls during the final 18 months of the Biden administration.
The bureau said the stepped-up outreach coincided with a sharp rise in international returns. Extraditions increased 65% compared with the final 18 months of the Biden administration, while foreign transfers of custody, known as FTOCs, climbed 54%. FTOCs occur when a fugitive or suspect is detained overseas and handed over to U.S. authorities.
During that period, the FBI said it completed 157 extraditions and 86 foreign transfers of custody.
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FBI Director Kash Patel touted the agency’s facilitation of foreign transfers of custody and the uptick in extraditions of high-profile targets seeking to evade U.S. justice abroad. (Win McNamee/Getty Images/File)
“When I became FBI director, I made clear that we would relentlessly manhunt high‑value targets from overseas, and we’ve delivered,” FBI Director Kash Patel told News Media.
“It’s a direct result of President [Donald] Trump’s relationships with foreign governments, which allow us to work in spaces where we were never permitted to before and Attorney General Todd Blanche’s leadership giving us the legal tools we need to return these subjects back to America to face charges.
“These targets are literally the worst of the worst, and we will give them no sanctuary.”
Alexis Flores was previously a top 10 FBI fugitive, according to officials. He was arrested Wednesday in Honduras in the 2000 murder of a young girl in Philadelphia. (FBI and Google Maps)
On Monday, a Honduran citizen on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list was extradited to Philadelphia after 25 years on the run for the alleged rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl, Fox News exclusively reported.
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Alexis Flores was arrested in February, and Honduran authorities agreed to extradite him to the U.S. The FBI said Flores had been removed from the fugitives list in March 2025 due to the prior Honduran government’s refusal to extradite him for his offenses, citing local laws limiting extradition.
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FBI agents escort Zobaidul Amin after his transfer from Malaysia to the United States to face charges in an alleged international sextortion and child exploitation scheme. (Department of Justice)
Since June, the FBI has conducted more than 70 extraditions, Patel said at the time of Flores’ extradition to the U.S.
In March, Zobaidul Amin, a Bangladeshi national, was extradited from Malaysia to the U.S. to face charges related to one of the most prolific online child exploitation schemes.
Prosecutors allege Amin posed as a teenager on Instagram and Snapchat and coerced hundreds of minor victims — some as young as 11 — into producing sexually explicit images and videos. Authorities said he then threatened to share those images with friends, family and classmates unless the victims sent more.
Another recent example is the case of Abdullah Anwar, 28, a Texas resident who was brought back from Qatar to face fraud charges. Anwar fled the U.S. for Pakistan but was arrested in Qatar before authorities there agreed to extradite him to Texas.
The FBI has prioritized the extradition of suspects and fugitives abroad. From 2022 to 2025, former FBI Director Christopher Wray made 20 calls to foreign partners, including nine in his last 18 months during the Biden administration, the agency said.
Patel has made 100 calls in his first 18 months, a 400% increase over those made during Wray’s four years and a 1,011% call increase over Wray’s final 18 months with the Biden administration.
FBI agents stand on the tarmac as a plane arrives carrying Zobaidul Amin after his extradition from Malaysia to face federal charges in Alaska. (Department of Justice)
Typically, the FBI works with foreign authorities and governments to track and arrest suspects hiding in other countries. Once someone is arrested, the Justice Department will formally request that person be handed over to U.S. custody using existing international treaties.
Once the foreign government approves the handover, FBI agents travel abroad, take physical custody of the fugitive and fly them back to the U.S. for trial.