Mexican man arrested in US on suspicion of spying for Russians

Local reports suggest the accused was tracking an FBI informant who monitors Russian spying in South Florida

The Justice Department in Washington, where federal prosecutes work (Mary F. Calvert/Reuters)

Federal authorities have arrested a Mexican citizen on charges that he collected information about a US government informant on behalf of Russia.

Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes first drew suspicion on Friday when he followed another vehicle into the Miami-area property where the informant lived, according to a news release from the Justice Department. As a security guard approached Mr Fuentes' rental car, his wife got out of the vehicle and took a picture of the informant's license plate.

US prosecutors claim he was carrying out orders from a Russian official who had recruited him in 2019. A Singapore resident, Mr Fuentes made several trips to Moscow to meet with the official, who directed him to rent a specific property in Miami-Dade County and report back to Russia the license plate and location of the informant's car.

“The Russian official told Fuentes not to rent the apartment in Fuentes' own name and not to tell his family about their meetings,” the Justice Department news release said.

Court records in the case were filed under seal Tuesday and unsealed on Wednesday, but a spokesperson for the Justice Department said it was not immediately available. The news release provides sparse details on who Mr Fuentes was targeting or why. But the Miami Herald, which first reported on the arrest, described the person as an FBI informant who “provides information on Russian spying activities in South Florida.”

When the security guard stopped him at the informant's building on Friday, Mr Fuentes named someone he claimed to be visiting. The guard did not recognize the person as living there and told Mr Fuentes and his wife, who was not named in the news release, to leave the property.

Two days later, the couple was intercepted after arriving at Miami International Airport for a flight to Mexico City, federal prosecutors said. Customs and Border Protection inspected his wife's phone and discovered “a close-up image of the license plate” in a folder of recently deleted photographs. Mr Fuentes admitted telling her to take the picture. A search of his phone found she had sent the photo to him using WhatsApp and that he had been communicating with the Russian official.

“Fuentes admitted to law enforcement officers that he was directed by a Russian government official to conduct this operation,” the news release said.

He was charged Tuesday with acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying US officials. During a brief court hearing, the Miami Herald reported, he told a judge that he worked as a researcher at the National University of Singapore and had a part-time job with an Israeli company in Germany.

“None of my family knows I'm here,” he said, according to the newspaper.

On Wednesday, Mr Fuentes remained at the Federal Detention Centre in Miami, Federal Bureau of Prison records show. He was set to appear back in court on Thursday for a pre-trial detention hearing.

Washington Post