Romania seeks Cuban national accused of planning attacks on oil infrastructure

A 35-year-old Cuban national residing in the Russian Federation has been arrested in absentia by judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal on Thursday, November 5.

The man, Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, was accused by DIICOT of instigating acts of sabotage after allegedly paying another man, a Colombian national, who was supposed to destroy oil wells in Romania and who has already been definitively convicted in the case.

"On November 2, 2026, the judge of rights and liberties within the Bucharest Court of Appeal approved the proposal for preventive arrest in absentia, for a period of 30 days starting from the date the preventive arrest warrant is executed, of a 35-year-old defendant, a Cuban national residing in the Russian Federation, under investigation for instigating acts of sabotage," DIICOT announced in a press release on Thursday.

According to prosecutors, Durruthy was the one who, between June and July 2024, paid the Colombian national who was tasked with gathering information and taking photographs in preparation for destroying important targets in Romania.

"The instigation was followed by certain execution acts, as the latter proceeded to conduct on-site reconnaissance of the targets he intended to destroy using the aforementioned methods and took photographs and videos of them. The criminal plan was not completed due to the intervention of the police," prosecutors said.

According to the same source, the Cuban national is also the subject of investigations by US authorities, which confirmed, in a statement published on the website of the US Department of Justice, his membership in the Russian Federation's intelligence services. The Cuban national is also being investigated by judicial authorities in Latvia, Poland, and the Czech Republic for coordinating acts of sabotage on the territories of these countries.

In December 2024, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and the Intelligence Service (SRI) announced the arrest of Murillo Diosa, a Colombian citizen.

Authorities said that in July 2024, acting on instructions from a foreign national residing in the Russian Federation, Diosa carried out reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering activities in preparation for potential arson or explosive attacks targeting strategically important sites in Romania. These actions were considered a direct threat to national security.