Billionaire Pavel Durov, the co-founder and chief executive of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, French television channel TF1 reported, citing an unnamed source.

Durov was travelling on his private plane, TF1 said on its website, adding that he was targeted by an arrest warrant in France.

The 39-year-old is believed to have been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 8pm local time (6pm GMT).

Durov is expected to appear in court on Sunday.

The Russian-born businessman lives in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered, and holds dual French and Emirati citizenship.

Durov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $15.5bn (£12bn), left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to close down opposition communities on his social media platform VK, which he has sold.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Russian Embassy in France is taking “immediate steps” to clarify the situation.

There has been no appeal from Durov’s team to the embassy, ​​but it is taking “immediate” steps proactively, TASS quoted a representative of the Russian embassy in France as saying.

Durov and his brother Nikolai founded the messaging app in 2013, and it has about 900 million active users.

Telegram offers end-to-end encrypted messaging and users can also create “channels” to quickly spread information to followers.