An Israeli journalist has run into a brick wall trying to obtain information from T&T's Government about the couple who entered Trinidad's soil with fraudulent passports and escaped after being put into a hotel at the Caribbean Airlines' (CAL) expense. Alex Kuton-who works with a Russian Web paper in Israel called IzRus-said attempts to get information about fugitives Robert Ochakovsky and Anastasia Kurakin have not been fruitful. The Web paper located in Ramat-Gan is edited by Michael Falkov. Ochakovsky and Kurakin who arrived in Trinidad on June 6, with fraudulent passports and were registered in Comfort Suite Hotel, Piarco, at CAL's expense, made good their escape on November 20. The couple who had been under guard by CAL's security for five months, entered Trinidad and Tobago using stolen passports belonging to an Israeli couple.
The story about the fugitive couple was published exclusively in last weekend's Sunday Guardian. "I sent an e-mail this week to Lisa Ghany, public engagement adviser to the Prime Minister but I did not get any response. I also called other people but everyone was tight-lipped. Obtaining information has been a task," said Kuton. Kuton said they have been trying to ascertain whether the couple is linked to the assassination plot against Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar and her Cabinet colleagues. An article published on the Web site on Tuesday, Kuton said, showed false photographs of Kurakin and Ochakovsky and queried their whereabouts. Persad-Bissessar's name and photo were also plastered on IzRus' Web site, which was written in Hebrew. Attempts by the Sunday Guardian to contact Chief Immigration Officer Andy Edwards and Caribbean Airlines Chairman George Nicholas III proved futile.