The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says it has captured Said Abdullahi Ereg, one of America’s most wanted fraudsters.

The development comes barely six days after the FBI released a new list of America’s 10 most wanted fraudsters.

The FBI announced that “Said Abdullahi Ereg, one of the fugitives appearing on the newly announced Most Wanted Fraudsters List, is now in custody,” in a post on X on June 10.

Mr Ereg, a 48-year-old Somalian, was declared wanted for wire fraud and money laundering of $4.2 million.

He was declared one of America’s top 10 most wanted criminals on June 4th.

The Somalian was declared wanted for his alleged participation in a fraud scheme that exploited the Federal Child Nutrition Program during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to the FBI, between April 2020 and April 2021, a grocery and deli store fraudulently claimed to have served over 1.4 million meals to children and received more than $4.2 million in payments from Feeding Our Future under the Federal Child Nutrition Programme.  

“Mr Ereg allegedly transferred most of the money to fund his family’s lavish lifestyle.  He also allegedly transferred money to foreign accounts controlled by foreign companies,” the FBI said.

A reward of up to $150,000 was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mr Ereg.

Kash Patel, FBI director, said the arrest of Mr Ereg was the first among the most wanted fraudsters, adding that more would soon be arrested.

“This is only the first within the first week of announcing the Most Wanted Fraudster List. More to come!” Mr Patel wrote on X.