Russian caught at border with 'lost' Spanish passport

Khlong Luek border checkpoint in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district is opposite Cambodian town of Poipet. (Bangkok Post file photo)

SA KAEO--A 27-year-old Russian man using a Spanish passport earlier reported lost was arrested on Thursday at a border checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district as he tried to cross into Cambodia.

Plainclothed army rangers and immigration officers working around Ayanyaprathet district spotted the man walking from the Rong Klua border market towards the Aranthaprathet immigration building on Thursday.

They stopped him at passport control and asked to check his documents, said Pol Col Pairat Pukcharoen, chief of Sa Kaeo immigration checkpoint. They suspected from his appearance the man might be a "white Muslim", not Spanish as his passport stated.

The man was detained for questioning pending verification of the seized passport by the Spanish embassy. The embassy replied that the owner of the passport had reported it lost on June 9.

The passport was in the name Arturo Ortega, according to Thai language media.

Officials took the man for questioning at Aranyaprathet immigration office, suspicious he might have links with Islamic State (IS) militants. An interpreter was present during questioning.

The man eventually confessed he was a Russian national named Ayrat Khabiryanov, 27. He had travelled to Thailand and overstayed his visa in Pattaya, Chon Buri, by more than a year, Thai media reported on Thursday.

When Pattaya police launched a crackdown on foreigners residing in Thailand illegally, friends had helped him buy a fake passport from a Malaysian gang, Mr Khabiryanov said. It had cost him $10,000, according to the reports.

He was trying to leave Thailand for Cambodia when he was stopped. He denied any links with the Islamic State.

Authorities were not convinced by his denial, suspicious because he supposedly bought the passport from a gang in Malaysia.

He was being held in police custody at Khlong Luek police station to face charges of possessing and using a false passport. The investigation was continuing into whether he had any terrorist links.

The military junta has told all checkpoints to strictly check foreign nationals of countries on a secret watch list, according to Siamrath online



