They are wanted. And not for nothing

It all started in the Wild West in the era of cowboys, Indians and bison running here and there. A notice appeared on the door of the saloon: "REWARD! $50 to the one who brings Black Bill, accused of murder, to the sheriff, alive or dead." A day later, Black Bill went into the saloon to drink whiskey for the last time in his life, and one of the local residents became richer by 50 coins. And so it went.
Now a similar system exists in many countries around the world, every third announcement of a reward for help in capturing a dangerous criminal does not go unanswered, and vigilant assistants of justice receive hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars annually. A good way to get rich?

Happy day with fire
There are almost 1,000 government and public organizations around the world that turn to ordinary citizens for help in catching especially dangerous criminals. The reward amount can range from $1,000 to several million dollars, depending on the identity of the scoundrel and the country willing to put him behind bars. Sometimes private individuals resort to this practice. This system is most common in the USA. It is also well developed in Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Brazil. European countries are willing to pay remuneration to Great Britain, while others rely more on the consciousness of their citizens. But this does not mean at all that only residents of these states can receive a reward for the head of “Black Bill”. Anyone can get money. The main thing is to inform where it should be in a timely manner.
If Yaponchik is tried in New York, Mikhas is arrested in Geneva, Stankevich is interrogated in Warsaw, Dump Truck and his friends are seized at a small Italian resort, then who can guarantee that the criminal, who is on the worldwide wanted list, does not live in Moscow, St. Petersburg or another locality of the Russian Federation? I won't vouch for it. For example, a Vietnamese killer in Moscow is simply a scam. Trade yourself third-rate jeans for conspiracy, give the guard fifty dollars (rubles), and no one will know that your photograph hangs in the FBI and Interpol in the most honorable place.
So Russians can safely join the game, which is popular in the West. If you're lucky, of course.

How much is a pound?
Let's take a look at the prices for the scoundrels brought to justice. Every little thing is bought by law enforcement agencies individually. I mean $1000 per person. In Australia, for example, they pay that much for almost any wanted scoundrel. Wells Fargo pays the same amount for bank scammers. This bank, by the way, is a veteran of buying criminals, having been involved in this type of business since the seventies of the last century. At the time, the bank viewed it as a kind of charity, and quite a few Black Bills ended up in jail or on the scaffold using Wells Fargo money. Now he announces rewards only for scammers who have done wrong to him. However, there are few of them.
Managers of highly profitable investment funds that disappeared along with the funds may be worth a little more. Apparently, foreign defrauded investors, unlike Russian ones, do not invest their last money in suspicious projects, leaving something for the search of escaped scammers.
A $10,000 reward has been offered by the city of Clifton, New Jersey, for the capture of a tall, strong, mustachioed black man who owns a brand new Chrysler car. He is wanted for the rape of a 12-year-old girl.
Scotland Yard is ready to pay 10,000 pounds sterling (more than $16,000) to anyone who can help organize a personal meeting between Detective Dale and Brahim Aderdur. Mr. Aderdur is probably the only person in the world who can tell how his father-in-law, mother-in-law, wife and infant daughter were stabbed to death. Alas, immediately after the death of his relatives, Aderdur boarded the next Eurostar train and left London for continental Europe. This was in October 1995, but police officers from European countries were never able to meet with this gentleman.
The Harris County (Texas) sheriff is willing to pay $25,000 to capture the man who killed police corporal Alley six years ago. Alas, the investigation does not even have a suspect.
$50,000 will be paid to anyone who finds and hands over to authorities at least one of the perpetrators of the arson attacks on churches attended predominantly by African-Americans. These arson attacks have been occurring in the southern (former slave) states of the United States for several years now.
A $70,000 reward awaits anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of any member of the Animal Liberation Front, an organization that has been active since the early nineties. The “humanists” included in this underground group fight for animal rights in a very unique way. They set fire to stores that sell sheepskin coats or sweaters made of natural wool, kill butchers, blow up incubators and trucks used for transporting livestock. True, two years ago the leader of the Front, Keith Mann, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, after which his comrades became somewhat quieter.
The FBI and other US law enforcement agencies highly value drug trafficking representatives. Even for the extradition of a small fry who tried to “push” a measly 32 tons of hashish, $50,000 was promised. Large drug traffickers go for a quarter of a million, or even half a million. It was greed that destroyed the famous Colombian drug concern Cali. Greedy subordinates handed over almost all their superiors to the Americans.

No more expensive than money
The largest sums can be received for helping to capture a criminal wanted under the US State Department's counterterrorism program. The award can be received by any state and any person.
Under American laws in effect since 1984, a person who provides information that would help prevent a terrorist attack against US citizens and property of this country or would lead to the apprehension and/or conviction of a person responsible for international terrorism may receive a reward of up to $2 million. If the target of the terrorist attack was a US civil aviation aircraft, the reward can rise to $4 million - in this case, aviation unions pay the difference. In addition, the informant (along with his family) can be taken to the United States or any other country in the world, receive American citizenship and new documents that ensure complete confidentiality.
Currently, the highest reward is offered for the capture of the criminals responsible for the June 25, 1996 explosion in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. There, 19 people died and several hundred soldiers from the UN peacekeeping forces, citizens of different states, were injured. The US State Department is ready to pay $2 million to anyone who helps solve this crime. The Saudi Arabian authorities intend to pay another $3 million.
The FBI's top 10 most wanted fugitives include the names of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. Both are Libyans, Libyan intelligence officers. They are wanted for the December 21, 1988 bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. As a result, all passengers and crew of the plane died - 259 people from more than 30 countries. Another 11 people died when the plane crashed to the ground. $4 million was promised for the “head” of each criminal.
A large number of wanted terrorists are "valued" at $2 million. These include, for example, those responsible for the kidnapping of American doctor Donald Hutchins on July 4, 1995 in Kashmir and those responsible for numerous kidnappings of US citizens in Lebanon in the eighties. A similar award may be available for assistance in identifying the perpetrators of the April 1986 bombing of TWA Flight 840 in Greece, which killed 9-month-old baby Demetra Stylian Klug. And - the terrorists who hijacked TWA Flight 847 on June 13, 1985 and beat passenger Robert Statham to death. (Both crimes were committed before the reward for the capture of “air terrorists” doubled.)
On February 26, 1993, an improvised explosive device detonated in the underground parking garage of the 110-story World Trade Center building in New York. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. Two suspects in the attack - Abdul Rahman Yassin and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef - left the United States after the explosion. A reward of $2 million was promised for help in their capture. According to some reports, Yassin is hiding in Iraq. Yousef was arrested in 1995 in Pakistan (thanks to a counter-terrorism program) and is now in an American prison. The informant was paid part of the promised amount, commensurate with his contribution to the capture of the criminal.
Among the FBI's 10 most wanted is Pakistan-born Mir Aimal Kansi. On January 25, 1993, he fired at cars stopped at a red traffic light with an AK-47 assault rifle. This happened near the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two people were killed and three were seriously injured. $2 million was promised for Kangxi's capture.
Similar rewards have already been paid dozens of times. It makes sense to add that thanks to such informants, human lives worth more than millions of dollars were saved. For example, during the so-called “Gulf War,” an informant from an Asian country reported on planned terrorist attacks by the Iraqi intelligence services. The terrorists had already begun preparations and the next explosion was prevented 48 hours before the scheduled time. The number of victims in the event of all terrorist attacks could be in the thousands. The now unnamed informant and members of his family have American citizenship and half a million dollars of reward in their current account and live in the United States. In total, vigilant citizens have already earned more than $5 million from the anti-terrorism program.

Don't cross your dad into hell
Imagine the incredible. You have met a person who is wanted by the US State Department, the FBI, Interpol or another organization who is willing to pay a huge amount of freely convertible currency. What should you do in such a situation?
First of all, do not suffer unnecessary heroism and do not detain the criminal yourself. The international wanted list, with the promise of a large reward for its capture, usually does not include malicious alimony defaulters or waitresses who cheat clients. Somehow they are more likely to look for those who already have human lives on their conscience. Do you want to add your name to the list of victims?
If you work in law enforcement, you can take a risk and make an arrest. But first, be sure to obtain an arrest warrant for the suspect from the local Interpol bureau. It is not clear, however, how to do this practically. While you are contacting Interpol, the criminal may again escape justice. But the law is the law.
Therefore, it is better to use the good old method - pick up the phone and tell them where to go. You can go to the law enforcement agencies of your native country. If for any reason you do not fully trust them, call the American embassy.
It must be borne in mind that if you only provided information that helped catch the criminal, you will be paid not the whole amount, but a part. Which one will be decided by specially authorized representatives of the State Department, the State Treasury and the FBI. If you're lucky enough to help put a notorious scoundrel behind bars, you'll have to pay more than $1.66 million in income taxes on the $4 million reward. There will still be something left for life.

You can't understand Russia with your mind
In Russia, the practice of rewarding for the capture of a criminal is, to put it mildly, not very common. No, of course, the authorities pay money to freelancers, but this is somewhat different. As an exception, only one case comes to mind. In 1995, the Russian Business Round Table (RBT) organization promised to pay $1 million to solve the murder of CBRT Chairman Ivan Kivelidi. The reward is said to have helped obtain valuable testimony.
But I don’t remember that the authorities promised money to anyone who would help find those responsible for the trolley bus explosions in Moscow, terrorist attacks at railway stations, kidnappings, murders (even the most high-profile ones). You won’t see photos of domestic drug lords on the flimsy “The police are looking for them” stands.
No money? So maybe someone will agree to fulfill their civic duty for free. But our law enforcement agencies do not often turn to the people. And even if they do, their voice is not very well heard.
In the West, photographs of the most dangerous criminals can be seen in popular television programs, on the pages of illustrated magazines, and found on the Internet. Looking for Arab terrorists, the FBI prints portraits of criminals on matchboxes - for Arabs who cannot read. When the search for those responsible for the bombing of the New York World Trade Center began, wanted notices were simultaneously published in The New York Times (in English), Le Figaro (in French), Die Welt (in German), Al-Hayad (in Arabic) and even in the newspaper Pravda!
In our country, everything is limited to “Highway Patrol” and a few other TV shows that not everyone watches. As a result, no one really bothers the general public with requests for help and promises to pay for this help.
What's the matter? Is it that the word “bandit” in Russia does not have a negative meaning, but a terrorist can occupy a high position? Funny question. I don't even want to answer.
Or maybe the fact is that snitching has long been condemned in Rus'? Well, it’s not good to somehow send a person to jail and then not suffer from remorse. Let this person better blow up a train station, kill a policeman, rape a minor.
If he gets caught, he'll pay for it. But no one is going to pay to catch him.

Alexey ALEXEEV

Magazine "Kommersant Money" No. 26 dated 07/09/1997, p. 17

They are wanted. And not for nothing