| Imre Arakas | |
| Alias: | the Butcher |
| Birth Date: | ~ 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Estonia |
| Nationality: | Estonian |
| Criminal Charge: | conspiracy to murder |
| Conviction Penalty: | six years |
| Conviction Status: | in prison |
| Imprisoned: | Portlaoise Prison |
Imre Arakas, also known as the butcher, is an Estonian criminal.[1] He has also been a wrestler, an actor and an Estonian separatist.[1] He is a father of two.
In 1979, aged twenty, he and a friend broke into a shooting club in Tallinn and stole 13 handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.[1] Some saw the theft as a blow against the Soviet regime.[1] Arakas was quickly arrested and escaped from the courthouse on 18 April 1979, evading authorities by jumping from the Kohtuotsa viewing platform on Toompea hill.[1] He was arrested again after 87 days and sentenced to 15 years in jail, mostly in a high-security Russian facility.[1]
After release from prison he joined an Estonian organised crime gang and took part in a feud with Russian organised crime that killed over a hundred people.[1] Arakas was nearly killed on more than one occasion.[1]
He left Estonia for Spain in 1998.[1] A failed assassination attempt was made in Marbella and two Estonians were jailed for their part in it.[1]
After this he became a freelance professional killer who is suspected of being responsible for a number of murders across Europe.[1]
He was employed by the Kinahan gang as part of the Kinahan-Hutch feud.[1] He was hired to kill James "Mago" Gately.[1] Arakas owed a lot of money and the €100,000 payment for murdering Gately would pay off a large amount of it.[1] Gardaí received intelligence that he was going to arrive in Ireland and put him under surveillance.[1] The assassination was prevented and in 2018, he was jailed for six years by the Special Criminal Court.[1] [2] [3] While in Mountjoy Prison he suffered a stroke.[2]
He is expected to be deported to Lithuania after release from prison where he faces murder charges.[4] He is a suspect in the murder of Deimantas Bugavicius, lover of Lithuanian pop star Vita Jakutienė, on 6 November 2015.[4] The victim was shot by a three-man gang.[4] In June 2020 he announced that he would challenge the extradition. He was deported to Lithuaniain in 2023 where he is being held on murder charges.[5] [6]