Top 10 International Manhunts
They fought the law and the law won. Well, most of the time. Join http://www.WatchMojo.com as we count down our picks for the top ten international manhunts. For this list, we're looking at those famous manhunts that spanned multiple countries and made headlines all across the world due to the extensive resources used and the criminals' infamous act of atrocity.
Special thanks to our user roxy for submitting the idea using our interactive suggestion tool at http://www.WatchMojo.comsuggest
Script written by Nathan Sharp
#10: Luka Magnotta
And here we thought Canadians were supposed to be polite. Last seen on May 24, 2012, Chinese international student Lin Jun was captured by Magnotta and dismembered, and a video depicting Magnotta committing the murder was posted online to a gore website. Various parts of Lin's body were mailed across the country, with his left foot going to the headquarters of Canada's Conservative party and his right foot and hand going to two elementary schools. After fleeing Canada, Magnotta travelled through Europe where he was eventually apprehended in Berlin after an Interpol Red Notice was issued. What was he doing? Reading news stories about himself at an Internet café.
#9: Radovan Karadžić
Top 10 Radovan Karadzic Genocide Conviction Facts
Karadžić is a co-founder of Bosnia's Serb Democratic Party and was the first president of the Republika Srpska, serving from 1992 to 1996. That doesn't sound so bad, but just wait. During the Bosnian War, between 1992 and 1995, Karadzic committed various war crimes against non-Serbs, including genocide, and is thought to have murdered up to 7,500 Muslims. He fled to Belgrade and worked in a private clinic under the alias Dr. Dragan David Dabić while subsequently living in Vienna, Austria under the name Petar Glumac. His capture could be straight from a screenplay: Karadžić was allegedly taken into custody by Belgrade locals who figured out his real identity and wanted to claim the award for his capture.
#8: Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri
An Egyptian-born Muslim, current leader of the global militant organization Al-Qaeda, and he's still at large to this day. Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is responsible for a host of atrocities, including a car bombing on the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan. He was listed under indictment by the United States government for his role in the infamous 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He is perhaps best known for his many videos supporting heinous actions such as the 9/11 attacks. Illustrating their desire to capture al-Zawahiri, as of February 2016, the U.S. Department of State was offering up to $25 million for information leading to his capture.
#7: Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein served as the fifth president of Iraq, reigning from July 1979 to April 2003. However, his presidency was less than fortunate for of some citizens of Iraq as his dictatorship was responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. In January 2002, American president George W. Bush announced that he would collapse the Iraqi government due to its alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction. After the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, Hussein lost his control over the government and went into hiding. He was eventually captured in December 2003 by American forces at a farm near Tikrit after 9 months of topping the Most Wanted Iraqis list. He was hanged on December 20th, 2006.
#6: Adolf Eichmann
A well-known lieutenant colonel in Nazi Germany's SS organization, Adolf Eichmann was one of the leading orchestrators of the mass deportation of Jews to extermination camps during the Holocaust. After being captured by Americans, Eichmann escaped custody and briefly hid in Germany before fleeing to Argentina, becoming department head at Mercedes-Benz. His capture was the result of an emigrated half-Jew whose daughter began dating Eichmann’s son, Klaus Eichmann, in 1956. Klaus frequently bragged about his father's Nazi past, and after Mossad authorities had been alerted, Eichmann was captured four years after the investigation began.
#5: Edward Snowden
A hero, whistleblower, dissident, patriot, and traitor, Edward Snowden has been labeled as them all. A former CIA employee, he is the man responsible for copying classified information from the NSA and publicly releasing it in 2013. The Department of Justice charged Snowden with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property. In May of 2013, Snowden flew from Hawaii to Hong Kong, courtesy of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, to protect Snowden from the imminent backlash. In June of that same year, he traveled to Russia, where he was eventually granted asylum for three years. While he's currently looking for sanctuary elsewhere, the only thing that’s certain is that he’ll continue to divide public opinion.
#4: Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi Biography: A Dictator's Life, Death
After helping orchestrate the 1969 Libyan coup d’état, Muammar al-Gaddafi grew to power as the primary leader and governor of Libya from 1969 to 2011. Serving as the Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Gaddafi soon became infamous due to his uses of terrorism and his various violations of human rights. The country's strained relationship with the West eventually resulted in the 1986 bombing of Libya. During the Arab spring of 2011, rebel militias pushed back against Gaddafi and he went on the run. NATO bombers eventually attacked his convoy, and Gaddafi was taken prisoner and subsequently beaten and killed.
#3: El Chapo Guzmán
Born Joaquín Guzmán, this drug lord is arguably the most influential and powerful drug kingpin of all time. The DEA has noted that his reach has exceeded that of Pablo Escobar, and the Chicago Crime Commission named him Public Enemy Number One, a distinction not given out since Al Capone in 1930. After being captured in 1993, El Chapo escaped from prison in 2001 by bribing security guards. Wanted by the American and Mexican governments, he was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2014. He escaped prison again in 2015 via a secret tunnel system, before being recaptured in January of 2016 by the Mexican Navy. Sounds like the script to a killer TV show.
#2: Pablo Escobar
Top 10 Pablo Escobar Facts
Despite El Chapo’s reach may arguably reach further, never discount the achievements of Pablo Escobar. At the height of his power, Escobar was supplying up to 80% of America's cocaine and was personally worth $30 billion. But, as is often the case with criminals, Escobar met a violent end. He escaped from his own personal prison in 1992, and was pursued by Colombian National Police task force, the Search Bloc. Eventually the United States also joined the hunt with Colombian officials and on December 2, 1993, Escobar was shot and killed during a shootout on the Medellin rooftops. The rest is Netflix history.
Before we hunt down our top pick, here are few honorable mentions.
Christopher Dorner
Abdelhamid Abaaoud
Ali Hassan Salameh
#1: Osama bin Laden
Easily the most famous manhunt in history, the search for Osama bin Laden has been well documented in both the news and Hollywood. The founder of Al-Qaeda, bin Laden was responsible for massive attacks on civilian targets and claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. For ten years, bin Laden’s capture was of upmost importance to the FBI and a $25 million bounty was placed on his head. It took 10 years before he was finally located in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011. Barack Obama famously ordered Operation Neptune Spear, and bin Laden's compound was stormed. With bin Laden death a matter of minutes into the operation, and so ended a decade of searching.
Do you agree with our list? Which famous manhunt did we miss? For more easy to find top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to Watchmojo.com
