DIGIVESTASI - The founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was reportedly arrested in France by agents from the French National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF) on August 24, according to a report from the French news site TF1.

The arrest occurred after Durov traveled from Azerbaijan to Le Bourget airport in Paris with a woman and his bodyguard. This airport is known as an exclusive facility for private jets. According to the report, Durov became the subject of a search warrant issued by OFMIN, the French investigation agency that handles child sexual exploitation, as part of a preliminary investigation.

The news report also noted that Durov, who is a billionaire, usually avoids traveling in Europe, possibly to avoid arrests like this, given that his arrest warrant is only valid within French territory.

"He made a mistake tonight. We don’t know the reason. Was this flight just a stopover? In any case, he is now in custody," a source told TF1, as reported by The Block.

Charges Against Durov

TF1 speculates that Durov may be brought before an investigating judge on Saturday night, with possible charges on Sunday related to various offenses such as terrorism, drugs, involvement in crime, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, pedophilia-related content, and possibly other charges.

"Pavel Durov will almost certainly be held before trial... With his platform, he has enabled many offenses and crimes to occur without taking steps for moderation or cooperation," said an investigator from ONAF handling Durov’s detention.

Durov’s arrest has also impacted the price of TON, the native cryptocurrency of the TON Network associated with Telegram, which has dropped by more than 15% in the past 24 hours. The price of TON fell from US$6.80 before the report emerged to US$5.88, according to data from Coinmarketcap.