A Scottish hitchhiker has faced border interrogations all because he shares a name with a wanted Russian defector.
John Dougan, 31, is hitchhiking 14,000 miles from Aberdeen to Hong Kong to raise money for charity.
But border officers have raised eyebrows when they see the name on his passport – the same name as fugitive John Mark Dougan.
Dougan, a former Florida police officer, relocated to Moscow and is accused of being behind hundreds of websites sharing Russian propaganda.
The pair not only share a name and have the same birthday, but the Scot also claims the wanted man messaged him on Facebook 15 years ago.
After hearing about the travel turmoil, Dougan filmed a tongue-in-cheek apology video on Instagram for the problems he was causing.
Speaking to Metro from Bulgaria, John said: ‘I am being taken out of the car and questioned because I have the same name as this guy.
‘It is a regular occurrence and to varying severities.
‘I have to explain to people who’ve given me a lift that I’m not a criminal.
‘Their suspicions really spike when the authorities come and question me.
‘I’m worried a border office might want to be safe than sorry and will say “no.” That will stop my trip completely and stop me from raising money.’
Dougan escaped to Moscow in 2016 after the FBI raided his flat and has made appearances on a Russian state-owned TV station, according to the BBC.
John’s passport troubles started several years ago, with one of the worst being when he crossed the border from North Macedonia into Greece.
John said: ‘I had to get out of the car, which has happened to me before.
‘But they were very suspicious and they just weren’t accepting that that was him for a while.
‘They kept on looking at me and looking at their screen to check for visual checks and stuff.
‘I was in what was like an interrogation room from an American reality show.’
John also faced trouble when he entered Bulgaria on foot, and is worried the problems will only get worse as he travels through the Middle East.
When John was 15, a Facebook user with Dougan’s name messaged him on Facebook, offering him money to record a voice-over for his company’s voicemail.
While John was up for it, his mum shut it down.
John said: ‘When Facebook first started, Americans with the same surname added me and wanted to chat about their heritage.
‘Me and him had a brief conversation and then it concluded with him asking me to record like a voicemail for his legal company.
‘My mum thought it was not a good idea.
‘This whole situation generally is, it’s all like quite hilarious and humorous.’
The plot thickened over the weekend, when a man claiming to be Dougan replied to the hitchhiker’s Instagram video about the story.
Seemingly in a Moscow pub, the man wished his counterpart well and invited him to Russia for steak and drinks.
In the video reply, he states: ‘The guy in this video is really cool. He is John Dougan, but he is not John Mark Dougan. That would be me.
‘That is the guy they keep stopping this poor soul for. I’m really sorry. But do me a favour, every country you get stopped at the border of, send me a message so I know the countries to avoid.’
John is not phased by this turn of events and just wants to make it to Hong Kong.
He plans to go through Turkey and the Caucasus before landing in Kazakhstan.
‘If they’re really suspicious as I’m crossing the border at Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, I’m worried that they just won’t take the chance on me,’ John added.
‘The issue at the moment is there’s not that many route options because British people can’t really go via Iran or places like that.’
His most important goal is raising money for Shout.
John added: ‘A lot of this is thinking on your feet and figuring it out as you go.
‘Hopefully I can raise as much money for the charity as possible and I’ll find out what’s next when we get there.’
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