FBI Captures All 10 Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI has successfully apprehended all individuals on its top 10 “Most Wanted” list, according to Director Kash Patel during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
During the hearing, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) praised the agency for capturing nine fugitives, but Patel interjected to clarify that the tenth fugitive had also been taken into custody over the weekend.
“Mr. Chairman, I’m proud to announce today, and I hate to correct you, we haven’t captured nine of the top 10 most wanted individuals on our list. We’ve captured 10,” Patel stated. He elaborated, “Just this past weekend, we captured a thug down in Venezuela who is on our most wanted list and on the run for years. He has been captured, apprehended, and is on his way back to the United States of America. That’s 10 of 10. Nobody in the FBI history has done that.”
Patel did not specify the identity of the latest capture, but reports indicate that it is Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, recognized as the FBI’s first “cyber fugitive.” Canelon Aguirre is accused of orchestrating an international scheme aimed at stealing millions from U.S. financial institutions, allegedly in collusion with the Tren de Aragua (TdA), which is identified as a foreign terrorist organization.
The FBI stated that since January 2024, Canelon Aguirre and his associates had been enriching themselves through ATM jackpotting—using malware to exploit ATMs for unauthorized cash withdrawals, which were then funneled through a complicated money laundering network.
This announcement comes just a day after Patel noted that, over the past 18 months, the FBI had captured nine of the top 10 most wanted violent offenders—surpassing the numbers achieved during the previous administration under former President Joe Biden.
Additionally, Patel mentioned that six criminals from the FBI’s newly established Most Wanted Fraudsters list had been apprehended since its launch earlier this year.
Among those captured were Abdullahi Ereg and Herbert Leon Kimble in June, Khalid Ahmed Satary in July, along with Elaine Angene Escoe for over $32 million in alleged COVID-19 relief fraud; Manjit Singh Bedi for at least $600,000 in alleged SNAP benefits fraud; and Emylee Thai, who was arrested in September for over $100 million in alleged Medicaid fraud.
