Moscow authorities have detained a man who built a fake frontier post in the woods near the country’s border with Finland and promised migrant workers he could smuggle them into the European Union.
According to Tass' report, the conman, a resident of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) country installed fake border posts in a forest in Russia’s Leningrad Region near the Finnish border to deceive a group of four foreign nationals and make them believe that he planned to help them illegally cross the border and get to the European Union, the Border Department of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region said in a statement.
The man erected mock border posts and charged four men from south Asia more than $10,000 to take them to EU member Finland, the Russian border guard service said on Wednesday.
“The man never planned to carry out his promises,” Interfax news agency said.
The men seeking to enter the EU were taken across a bogus border crossing erected in the woods near the Finnish-Russian border, a source said. At one point, the man even led the four men around a lake while carrying a rubber boat. They were eventually taken over the fake border crossing and believed that they were in Finland, although they were still in Russia.
Authorities did not specify the nationalities of the would-be migrants involved in the incident, which took place on Thursday last week.
He installed sham fence posts purportedly marking the state border between Russia and Finland and took the group on a circuitous route in the Vyborg region by car and on foot, at one point marching around a lake with an inflatable boat, “just in case”. All five were later detained.
Video footage showed men standing in the darkness among fir trees, their hands up in the air.
On Wednesday, a court in Saint Petersburg fined the migrants and ordered their deportation.
The man behind the smuggling scheme was from central Asia and could be charged with fraud, according to media reports.
Reportedly, the four men who hail from Asia, were eventually discovered by real border guards, who told them they were still in Russia.
Tass citing the FSB source report that a court has found the four foreign nationals, who failed to cross the border, guilty of violating the rules of stay in Russia, ordering they be fined and deported from Russia. As for their fake guide, law enforcement agencies are considering the possibility of opening a criminal case under Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (fraud).
Russia shares borders with a number of EU countries and many people seeking a better life in Europe pass through Russia. The two countries share a border of about 833 miles.
According to Tass' report, the conman, a resident of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) country installed fake border posts in a forest in Russia’s Leningrad Region near the Finnish border to deceive a group of four foreign nationals and make them believe that he planned to help them illegally cross the border and get to the European Union, the Border Department of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region said in a statement.
The man erected mock border posts and charged four men from south Asia more than $10,000 to take them to EU member Finland, the Russian border guard service said on Wednesday.
“The man never planned to carry out his promises,” Interfax news agency said.
The men seeking to enter the EU were taken across a bogus border crossing erected in the woods near the Finnish-Russian border, a source said. At one point, the man even led the four men around a lake while carrying a rubber boat. They were eventually taken over the fake border crossing and believed that they were in Finland, although they were still in Russia.
Authorities did not specify the nationalities of the would-be migrants involved in the incident, which took place on Thursday last week.
He installed sham fence posts purportedly marking the state border between Russia and Finland and took the group on a circuitous route in the Vyborg region by car and on foot, at one point marching around a lake with an inflatable boat, “just in case”. All five were later detained.
Video footage showed men standing in the darkness among fir trees, their hands up in the air.
On Wednesday, a court in Saint Petersburg fined the migrants and ordered their deportation.
The man behind the smuggling scheme was from central Asia and could be charged with fraud, according to media reports.
Tass citing the FSB source report that a court has found the four foreign nationals, who failed to cross the border, guilty of violating the rules of stay in Russia, ordering they be fined and deported from Russia. As for their fake guide, law enforcement agencies are considering the possibility of opening a criminal case under Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code (fraud).
Russia shares borders with a number of EU countries and many people seeking a better life in Europe pass through Russia. The two countries share a border of about 833 miles.
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