U.S. citizen walking to Japan detained on Kazakh-Chinese border with expired visa
ASTANA. July 3 (Interfax) - A U.S. citizen walking to Japan was detained by border guards in the East Kazakhstan region, the Kazakh National Security Committee's Border Service reported on Thursday.
A detail of the R. Batyrkhanov border post detained the 26-year-old Californian on Wednesday "for violating the rules of stay in Kazakhstan."
The detainee was carrying "expired immigration and tourist visa cards," the report said.
He also had a map of the border command post's area and a route to China downloaded from the Internet and bits of Russian, Kazakh, Chinese and Mongolian dictionaries.
"The detainee said he was travelling along the route Aktau - Astana - Ust-Kamenogorsk - Katon-Karagai - Uryl to Japan," the report said.
"At the moment of his detention he was walking towards the border," the press service said.
The detainee is staying at the border post now; he will soon be transferred to the police and face administrative charges of "violation of the rules of stay in the Republic of Kazakhstan by a foreign citizen or a stateless person," the service said.