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.