alt Hacker NewsI would imagine that is lot more likely that is just only the official story rather than what actually happens behind the scenes in these situations.
In the background there could be deals with the countries protecting them or with the target directly or a existing deal they had is off now. It may even be unrelated, wasn't worth expending the diplomatic capital before, but they are a connection to someone else more important and so on.
It could also be the targets were captured in a illegal way, no country wants to be diplomatically humiliated and the prosecuting one wouldn't want to disclose their covert ops capabilities.
Announced News is more often only a Press Release, we shouldn't be taking them literally.
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if you read the article it links to an Italian supreme court summary that apparently states he has lost his appeal to not get extradited, so after that it shouldn't have been a surprise that... he was extradited.
>captured in a illegal way
Tracked down in an illegal way? Sure, quite possibly. But he's going to get a trial. If he were kidnapped out of Italy by the CIA or something, it seems like it would be hard to keep that from coming out.
Relatedly about another member of the same group:
> Penchukov’s political connections helped him evade prosecution by Ukrainian cybercrime investigators for many years. The late son of former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych (Victor Yanukovych Jr.) would serve as godfather to Tank’s daughter Miloslava... Sources briefed on the investigation into Penchukov said that in 2010 — at a time when the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was preparing to serve search warrants on Tank and his crew — Tank received a tip that the SBU was coming to raid his home.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/11/top-zeus-botnet-suspect-...