Spy banker fraud: UK national held

London, July 3: A Briton accused of swindling a woman out of her life's savings while pretending be a spy posing as a banker has been arrested in Switzerland, British authorities said today.

Mark Acklom, 45, is accused of posing as a Swiss banker during a year-long relationship with Carolyn Woods, 61, during which he allegedly tricked her into lending him ?850,000 (960,000 euros, 1.121 million) for property development.

She said he told her the banking job was a cover and he was really an agent with Britain's foreign intelligence spy agency MI6, according to a statement from the National Crime Agency.

A Europe-wide manhunt was launched when he disappeared, tracing him first to Spain and then to Switzerland, where he was arrested in Zurich on Saturday night, living under a fake name with his wife and two children.

Acklom is now awaiting extradition to Britain, where he faces charges relating to 20 fraud offences.