Russian crypto couple forced to watch each other being tortured to death before burial in Dubai desert: Russian media

New and disturbing revelations have surfaced about the Russian cryptocurrency couple found dead in the Dubai desert in early November.

Roman Novak and his wife, Anna, were allegedly forced to watch each other being tortured to death after kidnappers failed to gain access to an alleged £380 million (S$657,000,000) in cryptocurrency held under Novak’s control, according to reports from Russian media.

Couple allegedly tortured in front of each other

The pair were said to have been abducted after being lured to Hatta, about 129 kilometres from Dubai, by men posing as potential investors.

The couple were tortured when their captors demanded access codes to their digital wallets but found the accounts reportedly empty, Metro reported, citing Russian investigators.

Russian media further claimed the couple were made to witness each other’s torture before being killed, a detail not previously made public when authorities first confirmed their deaths.

Further details about the torture have been omitted as they were supposedly too gruesome.

Bodies encased in concrete

In addition to the torture claims, the victims’ remains were encased in concrete and buried in a remote stretch of desert as well, according to the Daily Mail.

The bodies were packed into thick polyethylene bags and treated with industrial solvents in an attempt to accelerate decomposition and erase DNA traces.

The remains were recovered in November after police conducted a large-scale search across a 500-by-500-metre area where the couple’s mobile phones were last detected.

Three suspects arrested

The Russian Investigative Committee said three men, former police officer Konstantin Shakht, Yury Sharypov, and Vladimir Dalekin, have been arrested in St Petersburg after returning from the UAE.

Sharypov and Dalekin have confessed, while Shakht denies involvement, as reported by Metro.

All three have been remanded in custody until Dec. 28.

Investigators allege the suspects had accomplices who rented vehicles and premises used to detain the victims by force.

Items including knives and personal belongings were reportedly discarded across multiple emirates to hinder recovery efforts.

Investigation ongoing

Authorities in the UAE have not publicly commented on the latest allegations.

Russian authorities say further arrests are possible as they work to uncover the wider network involved in what has become one of the country’s most shocking overseas murder cases in recent years.

Couple’s disappearance

Novak, who relocated to the UAE after being paroled from a six-year fraud sentence in Russia, was the founder of the crypto platform Fintopio.

Russian media had previously reported that he raised significant investment before being accused of defrauding backers.

This exorbitant sum was believed to be the target of the extortion attempt.

The pair vanished after heading towards Hatta for a potential meeting with investors and their phones later pinged in multiple locations before going silent.

Their family had alerted authorities in Dubai when they failed to make contact.

The couple’s remains were later found dismembered and buried in the Dubai desert.

Top images via t0r/Instagram, Unsplash