Batir Bayramukov, a 56-year-old associate of Russian developer Sergei Polonsky, was sent back to Moscow on Monday afternoon, according to the Interior Ministry, making him the fifth to be deported since military police raided a private island off the coast of Sihanoukville and arrested six foreigners on May 15.
Uk Heisela, chief of investigations at the ministry’s general department of immigration, said the Russian had lied about the whereabouts of his passport, the absence of which was the cause for his expulsion.
“First, he told us his passport was lost. Then he told us he had left it at a motorbike rental shop and that he had sold the motorbike at a pawn shop to get money to take a boat to Koh Damlong,” Mr. Heisela said, referring to the island where Mr. Polonsky and his associates were arrested.
“We deported him at 5 p.m. and he will fly directly to Moscow after reaching Ho Chi Minh City.”
The investigations chief said the latest deportee had claimed he was innocently visiting Mr. Polonsky when the military police raided the island.
