Telegram Chief Pavel Durov arrested

Paris: Pavel Durov, billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Telegram, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening for alleged offences related to the popular messaging app, media reports said, citing police officials

Durov was travelling aboard his private jet, TF1 TV said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France.

The 39-year-old is understood to have been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at about 8 p.m. local time.

Durov was expected to appear in court on Sunday.

The Russian-born entrepreneur lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates.

Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5bn (£12bn), left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.