A suspected Russian hacker was arrested in the Czech Republic earlier this month for allegedly being involved in cyberattacks against the United States.
Czech Republic Police said in a statement Wednesday that the arrest happened Oct. 5 in cooperation with the FBI in Prague, according to CBS News.
The New York Times reported that the man suffered from an undisclosed medical condition and was briefly hospitalized. Czech Republic Police spokesman David Schön said on Wednesday that the arrest was not made public earlier "for tactical reasons."
U.S. sources told CBS News that the arrest was not related to the hack of the Democratic National Committee emails, and that the man was wanted for hacking a private company in 2012. The personal emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta began being leaked two days after the arrest.
"The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations," said a joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Election Security on Oct. 7.
"The recent disclosures of alleged hacked emails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process," the statement continued.
Czech police said the suspect arrested Oct. 5 had been traveling through the Czech Republic with his girlfriend and had a luxury vehicle, Politico reported. Extradition proceedings in Czech courts could allow him to be turned over to the United States.
Hacked emails have haunted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee since the summer, Politico noted. Damaging emails from the Democratic Party cost its chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz her job as party chair just before the DNC convention.
WikiLeaks has been posting daily email dumps reportedly from the account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, Politico noted.
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