NAPLES Mario Scaramella, the Italian academic who was with Alexander Litvinenko at the Itsu sushi restaurant, in London, when the Russian former spy was allegedly fatally poisoned, has been arrested in Naples.

Mr Scaramella had recently returned from Britain, where he had undergone tests and treatment for radiation poisoning at University College Hospital, in Central London, after it was revealed that he had been contaminated with about one twentieth of the dose of radioactive polonium-210 that had killed Litvinenko.

During the meeting with Litvinenko, Mr Scaramella said that they had discussed documents that he had received that left both men fearing for their lives. He said that he told Litvinenko that he had received e-mails from a source identifying a group of men from St Petersburg as the killers of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The e-mails also listed other potential targets for assassination — including himself and Litvinenko.

Mr Scaramella, 36, is a professor, lawyer, security consultant and a magistrate investigating links between Russian and Italian Mafia. He is being investigated on suspicion of arms trafficking and violating state secrets. (PA)

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