Franz Ferdinand: The time frontman Alex Kapranos was accused of being a spy for the west by Russian authorities.

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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.

Rockstar arrest stories are nothing new. I’ve covered a number of them on my channel and usually the arrests are a result of drugs, alcohol or violence. But this story is different. This rockstar was arrested for allegedly being a spy.

The Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand would burst onto the scene in 2004 with the release of their self titled debut album producing the massive hit Take Me Out. The album would go on to sell millions of copies around the globe. The band didn’t rest for a second, readying their second album You Could Have It So much Better for release in late 2005. It was during the earlier part of 2005 that the band was on the road promoting their first release while also showing off some of their forthcoming songs. In May of 2005 the band was in Russia to play a series of shows in Moscow and St. Petersberg. It was following these shows that the band was planning on flying from Moscow to New York City to mix their second record. As the band was about to board their plane at the Moscow airport rontman Alex Kapranos was told by airport officials that he couldn’t board the flight because his name was on the no-fly list because he was and i quote “a high level security risk.” Kapranos would tell the Times
“There were guys in uniform milling around. I could tell it was serious.” The confusion stemmed from the fact that Kapranos passport listed his legal name as Alex Huntley, Huntley was his mother’s maiden name. Why the difference in the surname? Well the singer would explain that his Greek father requested him to use a more Engish sounding name so his son wouldn’t have to worry about discrimination growing up in northeastern england.
As for why he ended up on a no fly list, It was a case of mistaken identity. The name Alex Huntley was an alias that was used by an ex-Mi6 secret service agent named Richard Tomlinson. Tomlinson was a well publicized figure who talked about visiting Russia and stealing information on the country’s weaponry during the early 90’s. Huntley would be fired from his job in 1995 after publishing a book about his career breaking the U.K.’s Official Secrets Act. He would end up serving a year in prison.

After serving his sentence, he would relocate to switzerland. It was during a tour in America to talk about his spying years that he was arrested in washington DC and deported back to switzerland. He would tell The Times: “The reason I was deported is that MI6 told the Americans I was a security risk. It would appear from what happened to the chap in Franz Ferdinand that, in Russia at least, the American restriction on me flying to the United States is still in force.”

Thankfully things would be worked out for Franz Ferdinand’s frontman as Kapranos and Tomlinson didn’t share any physical similarities and Tomlinson was 13 years older. After about an hour of being questioned by airport officials the band was allowed to board a plane out of russia.

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