Pavel Durov, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday evening, according to TF1 TV. Durov, who was traveling from Azerbaijan on his private jet, was detained around 8 p.m. local time due to an outstanding arrest warrant in France.

According to French media, this comes as part of a preliminary police investigation.

The 39-year-old Russia-born entrepreneur has been residing in Dubai and holds dual citizenship in France and the UAE.

Telegram, which Durov co-founded with his brother Nikolai in 2013, now has over 900 million active users and is known for its end-to-end encrypted messaging and "channels" for quickly disseminating information.

The Russian embassy in France is taking steps to clarify the situation, though there has been no formal appeal from Durov’s team. Telegram has yet to comment on the arrest.

Telegram on the road to reach one billion users

Encrypted instant messaging platform Telegram has reached 950 million active monthly users and continues to grow exponentially, Durov announced earlier in July. 

The Russian-born entrepreneur shared on his Telegram channel that the social media platform obtained 50 million users since spring, and is on the road to reach one billion users. 

Back in April, Telegram reached 900 million monthly users, including 450 million daily log-ins, Durov reported. Attributing the Data AI company, the founder also revealed that the social media platform was the sixth most used and downloaded application worldwide.

The social media application is especially popular in Russia and Ukraine, gaining global recognition following the escalation of the Ukraine war and a change in WhatsApp's setting by its parent company Meta.

Similar to Meta's instant messaging platforms, Telegram enables users to send private and group messages, the difference however, is that it does not restrict and censor users' content.