These days it's not a good idea to cross the border, if your name is Alvarez

In what appears to be a strange case of mistaken identity, police arrested domainer Henrique “Hank” Alvarez today at the US-Mexican border at Laredo, Texas.

Members of the FBI, DEA and ICANN – the latter dressed in the special “Blue Med Club” polo shirt and assorted golfing caps – were seen escorting a Mexican domainer who had attended an IDN domain conference in Guadalajara, Mexico on Tuesday and was on his way back into the US.

Henrique “Hank” Alvarez bears the same name as the one used by former VP of Engineering at Snapnames, Nelson “Halvarez” Brady. According to a statement issued by the police, the matter started when a “red alert” ticket appeared on one of the federal web sites. Within minutes the man was surrounded by several federal agents and was asked to drop his backpack, which contained a laptop, loose change and a half-eaten chicken burrito.

After his release, Henrique “Hank” Alvarez – who was aware of the Snapnames snafu announced last week,  gave a statement to the media and local Laredo TV stations:

“What I do, I go to Mexico for IDN domain conference, you know, and read news about Halvarez. We talk about it on twitter, you know, but man, don’t know why police came to arrest me. Then I saw the joke of it, I was laughing when they took their guns out at me and said drop it drop it get down get down. So I did, laughing, you know, because I know this is a mistake. I only register .mx domains, is this crime? Jajajajaja! Of course I told them, I am not Halvarez, not this puto! Jajajajajaja! It was soooo funny, like a movie, you know?”

It was definitely an embarrassing moment for the US federal agents that acted on impulse, without first confirming the identity of Henrique “Hank” Alvarez, who has dual citizenship and bears no resemblance whatsoever to the former VP of Engineering at Snapnames, Nelson “Halvarez” Brady.

“It’s unfortunate that Mr. Alvarez was arrested while being an innocent man”, said FBI captain Tom Krupff. “In the future we will ensure that measures are in place to protect the well-being of others, all while investigating criminal activity.”

Unfortunately, soon after his arrest Henrique “Hank” Alvarez’s backpack had to be detonated in a controlled explosion. He was given a fresh burrito meal from Taco Bell and a coupon for a brand new Windows7 laptop from BestBuy.

“It’s ok, I don’t blame the police, they only do their job, you know. And my laptop was old so I got new now. Only had a list of shitty .mx domains stored on it! Jajajajajaja! Thank you, Halvarez! And I love Taco Bell value meal.”