Iranian national sought by US on hacking charges arrested in Montenegro

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — An Iranian national who is wanted by the United States for mass hacking attacks that caused damage of $3.4 billion was arrested in Montenegro, police in the Balkan country said late Thursday.

The 39-year-old man, who holds both the Iranian and Turkish citizenship, is wanted by a court in New York on multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit computer ⁠fraud, hacking, and identity ⁠theft, a statement said.

Police located the man in the coastal Montenegrin town of Kotor, where he was arrested Thursday by request of the U.S. and its Federal Bureau of Investigation, Montenegrin police added.

The suspect “from 2013 onward ... carried out mass hacking attacks on the infrastructure of the United States of America," including at more than 150 universities, the statement said.

The illegally obtained data was used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian universities, police said. A court in the capital Podgorica will handle the extradition proceedings, the statement added.

Montenegro is a U.S. ally and a member of NATO. The small Adriatic Sea country of just 620,000 people is seen as the next in line to join the European Union.