Drunk Russian Sailor Travels to Japan on Rubber Boat to Get More Beer

Excessive alcohol consumption makes people commit different crimes, and unlawful border crossing is probably the rarest of them. Yet, that’s exactly what happed to a Sakhalin sailor Alexei Vashkevich, who used a rubber boat to get to Japan in search of more booze.

It happened on April 7, 2007. Alexei Vashkevich served as a sailor on a Russian boat. The boat was fishing for sea urchins in Russian maritime belt near Tanfilyev Island of the Small Kurile Chain (Sakhalin Region).

Neither the boat nor the crew members had any documents allowing border crossing. This, however, did not stop Vashkevich who decided to take a rubber motor boat and go to Japan to get some beer when the crew ran out of alcohol. The sailor, who was badly intoxicated, took off on his adventure. Despite being drunk, he had no problems finding his way, and approximately an hour later he disembarked in the Japanese port Nemuro. In the port, he purchased a case of beer and carried it towards his boat.

Unfortunately, the sailor ran out of luck. While he was in a store, members of a local fishing cooperative noticed his abandoned boat, thought it was suspicious, and called the police. The police promptly arrived, and met Vashkevich at his boat.

The sailor’s drinking buddies never got the promised beer. The Japanese were not too strict with the trespasser because he was intoxicated at the time of the crime and, according to Nemuro officials, could not fully comprehend what he was doing. Vashkevich was arrested for unlawful crossing of the Japan’s State Border and spent a few days in a local prison. He then was deported to Russia.

On Russian territory, he was still considered a person involved in a criminal case. Vashkevich quickly moved to a suburb of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and immediately went to work in the sea, so investigators could not find him for a long time. Only last fall the police was able to find the sailor and start a trial.

An interesting case that has nothing to do with alcohol happened on January 13 on the Russian border at Primorye. A Chinese citizen, equipped with a compass, was walking on the ice of the Ussuri River where he was arrested by employees of the Border Control of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. The Chinese man said that he was heading to New York, and was in Russia only in transit. Criminal charges were filed against him, and he is facing a fine of 200,000 rubles (approximately 6.6 thousand US dollars) or up to two years in prison.

Pravda.ru