Huo Xing Cai Jing reports that a 28-year-old Russian core member of the globally renowned ransomware group Qilin has been arrested in Japan and was legally extradited to Germany on October 2. According to the report, the man is suspected of illegally infiltrating the system of a German logistics company in September 2024, encrypting data, and demanding a ransom of approximately $165,000 (about 26 million yen) in Bitcoin. Investigations reveal that he was responsible for building the attack infrastructure within the Qilin criminal network and received a percentage cut from ransoms collected by various operational branches. Japanese police detained him in late May this year while he was traveling in Osaka, and after the Tokyo High Court determined he met extradition criteria, he was handed over to German authorities. Qilin operates under a “Ransomware-as-a-Service” (RaaS) model and previously claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Japan’s Asahi Group in 2025.
