Canadian Border Services Agency officers have arrested a foreign man who was considered a danger to the country for espionage.

The unidentified man was nabbed on a rarely used national security certificate when he attempted to board a plane in Montreal on Tuesday.

The man, who went by the name of Paul William Hampel, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper, was arrested at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Barbara Campion, a spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, confirmed the man is in custody. He allegedly arrived in Canada illicitly several years ago.

The man's nationality has not yet been released, but his case is reportedly being compared to that of past Russian spies captured in Canada.

The security certificate allows Canada to deport non-citizens who are suspected of posing a danger to Canada.

Ten years ago, security officials investigated a married couple in Toronto who went by the names Ian Mackenzie Lambert and Laurie Brodie.

A CSIS investigation concluded they were actually Russian spies named Dmitriy Vladimirovoch Olshevskiy and Yelena Borisovna Olshevskaya. They had taken the identities of two dead Canadian children.

Source: Xinhua