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News · MexicoA former Russian soldier is arrested in Tecate with a grenade and a fake CIA badge
He was pulled over for speeding in an SUV with sirens. He was carrying a fragmentation grenade, a signal detector and fake documents. He had an international alert requested by the embassies of Russia and the United States.
Translated from the original Spanish article. Read in Spanish
News published on October 29, 2026. The situation may have changed since then.
It sounds like a spy movie, but it happened in Tecate, Baja California, right by the US border. Police officers on a security operation arrested a Russian man carrying a grenade and a fake CIA badge.
How they caught him
He was pulled over for speeding in the Mayab neighborhood. He was driving a black Suburban SUV with sirens and loudspeakers, as if it were a patrol car, and couldn't explain why.
He identified himself as Iván "N", 43, born in Russia. He said he had been a soldier in the Russian army.
The CIA is the United States' intelligence agency. The National Intelligence Center (CNI) is Mexico's intelligence agency.
What he was carrying
A fragmentation grenade.
A camera bearing the emblem of Mexico's National Intelligence Center.
A signal detector.
Documents saying he was a CIA agent, but they were fake.
Wanted by two embassies
According to Baja California's Public Safety Secretariat, the man had an international search and arrest alert, requested by the embassies of Russia and the United States.
He is now in the hands of the Federal Attorney General's Office in Tijuana. It's still unknown what exactly he is accused of or what he was doing at the border.
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Sources (in Spanish)
- La detención y los objetos: El Imparcial y Punto Norte (28 de octubre de 2026).
- La alerta internacional: Pregonero Baja y Diario Tijuana.
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