Russian thugs dismember and bury crypto millionaire and wife after finding their crypto wallets were empty

A Dubai-based Russian crypto millionaire and his wife were kidnapped and dismembered after being "extorted" for cryptocurrency by people who they thought were potential investors. They were lured by some people posing as investors for a meeting in the United Arab Emirates; however, Roman Novak, 38, and his wife Anna, met a scary fate. They were last seen alive when they drove to Dubai's mountain resort Hatta about a month ago for the meeting. Their severed remains were found buried in the desert in the UAE a few days ago. The couple lived a luxurious life and flaunted it online, showing off swanky cars and jets. Three suspects have reportedly been detained for the killings in St Petersburg, and the Stavropol and Krasnodar regions of Russia.

Reports suggest, two of them are fighters from Putin's war in Ukraine, and one is an ex-murder squad detective. They posed as investors and demanded the password to Novak's crypto wallet. "Novak didn't resist - but there was no cryptocurrency left. The wallet was empty," the local news outlet Fontanka reported.

They sent out distress messages asking for money, but failed to arrange it. "Roman and Anna were killed and then dismembered," Fontanka reported. "Emirati police found traces of Anna Novak's blood at the villa, blood in the rented car, a cache of knives near the crime scene, and one of the organisers' T-shirts left behind in haste," reported Fontanka. All three suspects who recently returned from Dubai have been remanded in custody until December 28, while five more Russians under the age of 25 are believed to be linked to the gruesome case.

On the ill-fated day, Novak and Anna were reportedly driven to Hatta by their personal driver. He dropped them by a lake, where they moved to another vehicle for the rest of the journey. Novak then messaged his contacts that he was "stuck in the mountains on the Oman border" and desperately needed £152,000. Svetlana Petrenko, of the Russian Investigative Committee, said that all contact with them was lost soon. The police tracked their phones, which showed being in Hatta for two days, and then in Oman and Cape Town. However, investigators said the killers built the elaborate scheme to mislead the investigators.