Alexandre Cazes, believed to be behind dark net marketplace AlphaBay, has been found dead in a Bangkok jail. The suspected co-founder of AlphaBay, one of the largest dark web marketplaces, was found unresponsive at Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
He was due to meet prosecutors pushing to extradite him to the United States just an hour before they found his body. Police say that evidence points to Cazes taking his own life, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Surveillance camera footage of the cell indicated no signs of physical assault, Police Major General Surasak Khunnarong said. His father Martin Cazes said it was difficult to believe that his son would take his own life.
“For my father’s heart it’s hard to accept that my son committed suicide… under police surveillance, it’s incredible,” he said. Cazes’ father said he was awaiting the autopsy results and hopes he will find out the truth behind his son’s death.
The US Embassy in Bangkok stated that Cazes was detained at the request of the US “with a view toward extradition to face federal criminal charges.” Thai police arrested Cazes, also known by the pseudonym DeSnake, on 5 July on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.
Authorities seized several million dollars, three properties and four Lamborghinis owned by Cazes. He was also under investigation by local authorities. “He was a computer expert involved with international transactions of bitcoins,” Major General Soontorn Chalermkiat, a spokesman for Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told AFP.
