Canada's Federal Court granted on Wednesday delay in the proceedings against an alleged Russian spy who was arrested last week on charges of espionage.

The man known as Paul William Hampel was to appear before the court Wednesday after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service ( CSIS) filed a document asking to deport him, saying he is a danger to national security.

His lawyers applied for the delay saying more time is needed to study the evidence against him. A Federal Court justice heard that the man did have trouble making contact with his lawyers following his arrest in Montreal last week, ruling that the court case will resume next Tuesday.

The man, who claims himself to be a 40 years old, was arrested at Montreal's Dorval Airport last week. According to the , the man has lived in Canada for more than a decade under a false identity, first as a lifeguard and travel consultant in Toronto and later in Montreal since 1999.

The CSIS has described him as an "illegal," a high-level operative who allegedly spied in Canada and abroad on behalf of Russia's foreign-intelligence service, Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, or SVR, the successor spy agency to the KGB of the former Soviet Union.

Source: Xinhua