Imre Arakas, the Estonian hitman known as 'The Butcher' and linked to the Kinahan cartel, has admitted to his involvement in the murder of a prominent MMA fighter, according to Lithuanian police. Arakas, who was extradited to Lithuania last year after serving a sentence in Ireland for conspiring to murder James 'Mago' Gately, now faces charges of murder and illegal firearm possession in connection with the December 2016 killing of Remigijus Morkevičius.
The Prosecutor General's Office in Lithuania stated that Arakas confessed during police interrogation to the charges against him. Morkevičius, a well-known mixed martial artist and kickboxer, was shot dead outside his home in Kaunas by a gunman using an automatic weapon. Lithuanian authorities collaborated with gardaí in Ireland and police forces in Poland, Spain, and the UK during the investigation.
If convicted, Arakas could receive a life sentence. He had previously denied any involvement in the murder, claiming that authorities wanted him to testify against the Kinahan cartel. In an interview with Estonian TV, he alleged that Lithuanian police offered him a reduced sentence and a new identity in the US in exchange for implicating the cartel, an offer he said he refused.
Arakas also faces separate charges for the 2015 shooting of Deimantas Bugavicius. Despite pleading guilty to the Gately murder plot in Ireland, he later claimed he was only in the country for camping. Gardaí believe they have evidence linking Kinahan cartel leader Daniel Kinahan to the Gately plot through encrypted messages, potentially enabling a conspiracy to murder charge.
