UK fugitive held in Switzerland for spy banker fraud

London, July 3

A Briton accused of swindling a woman out of her life’s savings while pretending to be a spy posing as a banker has been arrested in Switzerland, British authorities said on Tuesday.

Mark Acklom, 45, is accused of posing as a Swiss banker during a year-long relationship with Carolyn Woods, 61, during which he allegedly tricked her into lending him 960,000 euros ($1.121 million) for property development.

She said he told her the banking job was a cover and he was really an agent with Britain’s foreign intelligence spy agency MI6, according to a statement from the National Crime Agency.

A Europe-wide manhunt was launched when he disappeared, tracing him first to Spain and then to Switzerland, where he was arrested in Zurich on Saturday night, living under a fake name with his wife and two children.

Acklom is now awaiting extradition to Britain, where he faces charges relating to 20 fraud offences. AFP