Alin Cosmin Gridan, 49, was one of the eastern European country’s most wanted criminals after disappearing before he was due to be jailed in November 2016.
The former police commissioner from Bucharest is now fighting extradition from a prison cell after he was detained by the National Crime Agency.
An NCA spokesman said: “In the Harlington area of west London, officers from the National Extradition Unit arrested a male wanted in Romania for fraud offences.”
“Mr Gridan appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court on the same date for commencement of extradition proceedings.”
A European Arrest Warrant states he was convicted of “laundering the proceeds of crime, swindling and forgery.”
He appeared at the same court for a second hearing earlier this month and remained remanded in custody ahead of a planned full hearing next month.
The court refused bail, recording he was “likely to abscond” and due to the “nature and seriousness of the offences, the sentence to serve and the circumstances of his arrest.”
According to a translated report on Romanian news website Libertatea, Gridan reached the rank of chief judicial police commissioner in Bucharest. But his position was mired in fraud and corruption claims.
According to the Libertatea report, in 2013, while under investigation for the fraud, the police chief appeared in a series of pictures published on the website of the Tranquila manele club, in Bucharest.
It was reported that he was in the company of known and suspect underworld figures from the city, including one who he was snapped hugging.
The court case began in February 2014 when he was charged with fraud, forgery in documents under private signature, money laundering and forgery in statements.
He was found to have cheated his own father-in-law out of 1.2 million euros in connection with a 2007 land sale.
The report added that Romanian authorities had until December 30, 2025 to find Gridan or they would have been time barred from making him serve his sentence.
