A Russian who bought a passport under the economic citizenship programme under the Keith Mitchell government in St. George¹s was detained last Friday in Barbados for questioning by that island¹s Police and Immigration.

Well-placed sources told GRENADA TODAY that the detained man is believed to be carrying the official name, Guorgios Simonenkov.

The Russian was travelling on an Air Jamaica flight that left the JFK International Airport for the Point Salines International Airport (PSIA) with a stop over at Sir Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados.

A passenger who was traveling on the same flight gave an account to this newspaper of what transpired at the airport on the neighbouring island. He said: ³The Immigration and Police boarded the plane and asked this gentleman to accompany them off the plane. They brought him back a short while later. We were still on the ground but about thirty minutes later they came back and took him (the Russian) back off the plane.

³The pilot then made an announcement that there were some security concerns and we would have to proceed (to Grenada) without the passenger², he added. The passenger said that the Russian man left a medical kit behind on the plane and it carried the name Guorgios Simonenkov.

Several Russians have reportedly purchased Grenadian passports under a scheme promoted by the Mitchell government to raise revenue. St. George¹s was forced to scrap the programme when Canada imposed a visa restrictions on Grenadians because of security concerns over the number of questionable persons who might have ended up with Grenadian passports.

And a few weeks ago, the news broke on the island that Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen and three Russians were sued for US$500, 000.00 in a New York court by american oil investor, Jack Grynberg for allegedly conspiring to block his oil and exploration agreement signed with Grenada in 1996.