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  • So... Singaporeans held for 11 days at an Armenian checkpoint

    Electric New Paper, Singapore
    July 1 2006

    So... S'poreans held for 11 days
    By Ng Yao Min

    July 01, 2006

    THEY were held for 11 days at an Armenian checkpoint.


    Mr Tan Shi Jie (left) and Mr Terence Teo on the couch they slept on
    for 11 nights and (below), with a group of Iranian drivers who
    invited them to share a meal.
    The problem: Their Singapore passports.

    All Mr Terence Teo, 25, and childhood friend, Tan Shi Jie, 25, wanted
    was a memorable trip to mark their graduation from the National
    University of Singapore (NUS).

    Certainly, the trip was memorable - for the wrong reasons.

    Their passports were thought to be counterfeits by the officials
    guarding the Armenian border.

    They were detained in the border complex at the Meghri checkpoint
    from the night of 6 Jun to 16 Jun. They spent most nights sleeping on
    a couch.

    'We were told that there were some problems with our passports and
    that we would have to wait,' Mr Teo said.

    However, they were not told what the problems were.

    The delay was followed by a thorough check and interrogation by the
    border officials. This was to determine that they did not possess
    multiple copies of passports.

    Said Mr Teo: 'They persistently asked us where we bought our
    passports, even though I kept insisting that Singapore issued us the
    passports.'


    But the duo were not ill-treated.

    'They made us write statements saying that nothing was taken from us
    except our passports and that we were not subjected to any abuse,
    just to be careful,' Mr Tan said.

    To add to their dilemma, there is no Singapore Embassy in Armenia.

    Mr Teo was allowed to call his elder brother, Mr Herman Teo, 26, in
    Singapore on the night he was detained.

    He, in turn, called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) here after
    receiving the call.

    Said the elder Mr Teo: 'I was even contemplating flying over to
    accompany them if all else failed, but it was a foolish thought.'

    With further assistance from the Singapore Embassy in Moscow and the
    High Commissions in New Delhi and London, Mr Teo and Mr Tan finally
    returned to Singapore on 18 Jun after spending 11 days in Armenia.

    But not before going through some harrowing moments.

    Mr Teo, an electrical engineering graduate, is an avid mountaineer.
    He had initially planned to climb Mount Lobuche in Nepal.

    When his friend pulled out of that trip, he roped in Mr Tan to go
    backpacking through the Middle East.

    Said Mr Teo: 'I wanted a graduation trip with a difference.'

    SMOOTH TRIP UNTIL...
    The pair flew into Iran via Bahrain on 15 May.

    They then travelled to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia on foot and by
    bus. Everything went smoothly until they left Iran in the evening for
    Armenia on 6 Jun.

    It marked the start of their ordeal.

    During their detention, they ate khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread)
    and piroshki (Russian meat pies) almost every day.

    They also had to be careful not to spend all their US dollars as
    credit cards were not accepted there.

    'Sometimes, it got quite depressing but we tried means and ways, like
    singing, to cheer each other up,' Mr Teo said.

    They took pictures with the people working at the border complex and
    even made friends with them.

    Because Iran is just across the border, Mr Teo and Mr Tan also saw a
    group of Iranian drivers offloading cargo at Meghri checkpoint
    regularly.

    The drivers soon began recognising them at the complex and started to
    communicate with them.

    'The people were very hospitable. We were even invited by some
    Iranian drivers to join them for a sumptuous supper of stew on one
    occasion,' Mr Tan said.

    'We relied mainly on sign language and some writing as they
    understood little English,' Mr Teo said.

    They also got occasional phone calls from worried family members and
    officials from the MFA in Moscow.

    Their personal belongings were not taken away. They had access to a
    power point where they could recharge their handphones and talk to
    their families.

    They finally got their passports back on 15 Jun. But things did not
    end there. They were not allowed into Iran, possibly because of the
    same passport issue, and were told to go to Georgia, north of
    Armenia.

    Mr Teo then called Singapore officials in Moscow for advice.

    'MFA strongly advised us to leave for Yerevan, the capital of
    Armenia, immediately,' Mr Teo said.

    On 16 Jun, they took a taxi to the Yerevan airport and spent the
    night there.

    The next morning, a Singapore official from Moscow flew to Armenia to
    hand them air tickets to London.

    In London, they were met by Singapore officials from the High
    Commission before leaving for home.

    Will he travel to the area again?

    'I'm actually thinking of going back to Georgia to climb. They have
    beautiful mountains,' Mr Teo said.


    http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,109 282,00.html
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