Russian couple who climbed Merdeka 118 may have entered Malaysia illegally

Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau in December posted videos of themselves on the spire of the 678.9m-high Merdeka 118. PHOTOS: SCREENGRABS FROM BEERKUS/INSTAGRAM, ANGELA_NIKOLAU/INSTAGRAM

PETALING JAYA – Malaysia has no record of the Russian couple who went viral for scaling the Merdeka 118 tower entering or exiting its borders, according to the Malaysian Immigration Department.

Still, the authorities will continue to investigate the matter in detail, Utusan Malaysia has reported.

“Checks revealed that both suspects are not inside the country, and investigations found that there were no records of them entering or leaving in the Immigration Department system,” said a source quoted by Utusan.

The source said the authorities were still continuing the investigation, and that they were looking into the possibility that the two climbers – Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau – entered Malaysia illegally.

CCTV footage at the tower did not show the two entering or leaving Merdeka 118, the source said.

“We have also called nine individuals, including staff and workers at the tower after the viral incident,” said the source.

Beerkus and Nikolau, who claim to be extreme climbers, in December posted photos and a video of themselves on the spire of the 678.9m-high Merdeka 118, the second-tallest structure in the world.

The two have been trying to cultivate a huge following on social media by risking their lives to take photos of themselves atop the world’s tallest buildings, without any rope, net or safety harness.

Beerkus has over 200,000 followers on Instagram, while Nikolau has more than 700,000.

To generate income, they sell their pictures on Foundation, a marketplace for non-fungible tokens.

Online sleuths initially questioned whether the couple’s photos were real.

In response, Beerkus posted a video of him and Nikolau atop Merdeka 118. Nikolau also shared another clip of herself sitting on the edge of the building’s spire, while holding a long selfie stick.

The source quoted by Utusan said the authorities were still waiting for the results of an analysis by Cyber Security Malaysia to determine whether these videos were real or digitally altered. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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