Singaporeans held in Russia

Singaporeans held in Russia

SINGAPORE (DPA): Four tourists from Singapore and one from Malaysia riding the Trans-Siberian Railway were detained and not given food for four days by Russian officials, who accused them of carrying fake passports, a news report said yesterday.

"We could have disappeared without a trace, and nobody would have known," Singaporean tour consultant Lim Nguan Noi, 32, told Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.

Lim and her four friends said they were detained by Russian officers from Aug. 12 to Aug. 15 after presenting their passports at the rail crossing from Mongolia into Russia.

The Russians accused the five tourists of holding forged passports and held them in two cells for four days without giving them food, the group said. They were questioned individually through interpreters.