Yevgeny Prechikov, an Israeli citizen also known as Eyal Shachar, who has been wanted for murder in the United States for the past six years, was arrested Tuesday at Ben-Gurion Airport. New York authorities filed an indictment against Prechikov last year for two murders committed in 2002 and 2004 as well as fraud offences.
Prechikov, a trained doctor, is accused of murdering two women by injecting their bodies with unidentifiable substances. In one of the cases, it is alleged that Prechikov collected more than $1 million from insurance companies post mortem. He fled the US in January 2005.
US authorities suspect that together with an American woman born in Russia, Prechikov worked to issue life insurance policies on her name, each worth $1 million. Prechikov was the main beneficiary.
The two provided insurance companies with false data.
In November 2002, some two years after the policies were issued, he allegedly killed the woman, 47, by injecting her with substances which could not be identified in the autopsy.
Meanwhile, the defendant used the same MO on another Russian immigrant, aged 51. It is alleged he murdered her in the same manner in August 2004, but failed to collect to insurance money.