Ivory Coast arrests 2 of EU’s most wanted criminals

DAKAR, Senegal – Authorities in Ivory Coast say they have arrested two of Europe’s most wanted criminals who were sentenced to life for the murder of a British national in Belgium in 1996.

The national gendarmerie in a statement said Jean-Claude Lacote and Hilde van Acker were arrested in Abidjan on Wednesday and Thursday.

Lacote, a French national, and Van Acker, a Belgian, were arrested in Belgium after the murder of businessman Marcus Mitchell. They were initially released because of a lack of evidence and fled to South Africa.

The two were sentenced in absentia in 2011 to life in prison and placed on Belgium’s most wanted list.

Ivory Coast says they had changed their identities.