The son of Russian musician and sound engineer Sergei Navetny has been arrested in Thailand over an expired visa, the Telegram news channel Mash reported.
According to the outlet, the 31-year-old man is currently being held in an immigration prison after living illegally in the resort of Phuket for almost two years. During his stay on the island, he supported himself using money from his parents and microloans.
His father, Sergei Navetny, is a Russian rock musician and the sound engineer for singer Elena Vaenga as well as the Russian rock bands Chizh and Co and Kukryniksy. Vaenga is a prominent Russian singer and songwriter known for performing chanson and folk-pop music, while Chizh and Co and Kukryniksy are long-established rock groups in Russia.
Unpaid rent and Phuket police complaint
According to Mash, the younger Navetny ran into trouble after he stopped paying for his accommodation in Phuket, an island province in southern Thailand on the Andaman Sea that serves as one of the country's largest tourist resorts. After he failed to pay rent on his apartment for several consecutive months, his landlady complained to the police.
The landlady is currently holding the Russian citizen's passport until he pays back a debt in the amount of 150,000 rubles, the report said.
Authorities issued a fine to the musician's son over the visa violation. His father tried to send money to him through an acquaintance, but that person disappeared, according to the Telegram channel.
Thai immigration detention and September arrest
Mash, a widely followed Russian news outlet on the Telegram messaging platform that covers crime and law enforcement stories, reported that the younger Navetny now remains in an immigration detention facility.
Under Thai immigration law, foreign nationals who remain in the country after their visas expire are subject to fines and detention by immigration authorities. The case follows another arrest in September, when a Russian male stripper was jailed in Thailand after he overstayed his visa and was caught by immigration police.
