- Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes and one of his companions were caught with images of the license plate number of a US counter-intelligence informant at Miami International Airport, the Miami Herald reported.
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A Mexican man accused of being a Russian spy was arrested in Miami, DOJ says
A Mexican man was arrested on charges of spying for Russia, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Tuesday.
Department of Justice Building
A Mexican national was arrested by the FBI on allegations of spying on behalf of the Russian government, the Department of Justice said in a Tuesday news release.
Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, who lives in Singapore, was arrested in Miami with another person who was travelling with him. The pair were allegedly caught with pictures of the license plate of a US government source, the DOJ said.
The Miami Herald reported that the travel companion was actually one of Fuentes' wives, whom he was married to in Mexico.
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Fuentes and his companion travelled from Mexico City to Miami last week, according to court documents cited by the DOJ. The next day, Fuentes is alleged to have tailed another car to get into a secured building where the source lived, according to the DOJ. He was then spotted by security and told to leave, but his companion had already taken the picture of the license plate, the DOJ release claimed.
The two were flagged at Miami International Airport on Sunday when US Customs and Border Protection agents found a close up image of the license plate on Fuentes wife's phone, according to the Herald. Fuentes reportedly told law enforcement that he asked her to take the photo.
His phone showed that he was communicating with a Russian handler who told him to get the license plate number, the DOJ alleged. Fuentes is alleged to have travelled to Moscow earlier this month to meet with the Russian official, according to the press release.
According to the Herald, the source Fuentes was spying on provides information on Russian spying in South Florida to the FBI's counterintelligence division.
In 2019, a Russian government official reportedly told Fuentes to rent a condo next to the sources under a different name to spy on him, according to the DOJ's news release. He is alleged to have later travelled to Russia to meet with the official in person and tell him of what he was going to do. When Fuentes returned to Moscow this month, the Russian official allegedly gave him specific information on the source and told him to find the car, tell him where the car was located and its license plate number, the DOJ said in their release.
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He was charged with "acting within the United States on behalf of a foreign government (Russia), without notifying the Attorney General, and conspiracy to do the same," and he has a pre-trial hearing on February 21.
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