The KGB is alive and kicking in Belarus where, among the feared secret police files, lays a dossier on a South Lakeland photographer.

When mother-of-three Tina Luke recently left her family in Ayside and travelled to the old Soviet Union state, there could have been trepidation. She was, after all, a marked woman.

Tina turned possible adversity into opportunity and faced agents head on, announcing she wanted to do a photo-documentary on the only post Soviet security service to retain the notorious name.

Contacts were made and the award-winning picture purveyor promised to return later this year, for a shoot with a difference.

Her brush with the KGB - and police in this country - happened inadvertently, when she became embroiled with a fiction-like saga. It led to her arrest and possible child abduction charges.

Since Chernobyl became the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, affecting tens of thousands of people and polluting vast tracts of Europe, Tina has been offering summer sanctuary to Belarus children.

Two to be given a fortnight's respite from a bleak homeland, where cancer and contamination are rife, were Sacha and Anton. Tina and her two sons had paid a return visit to Mogilev in Belarus, and had got to know the family.

The country, ruled over with an iron fist by dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his KGB security service, has allegedly seen countless citizens disappear, never to be seen again, says Tina. The number of political prisoners in Belarus is ever increasing and the president compared to Stalin.

Sacha and Anton's mother worked in a sauna, where KGB agents were regular clients. The steam's heat was relaxing, it loosened tongues and the tough men talked work.

The attendant is thought to have heard mention of bodies being moved. Her flat was raided soon afterwards and the woman disappeared.

"Lukashenko is a Saddam Hussein figure. Thousands have disappeared into thin air," explained Tina.

"Sacha and Anton's mother had been missing for about a year when I invited them to stay with us two Christmases ago. Everything was ready, presents wrapped and under the tree, and I went to Gatwick to pick them up."

As Tina stood in the arrivals hall, she looked up and saw their mother, also waiting for the Belarus passengers. Miraculously, Alena Simchenka had managed to escape her homeland and had found her way to England via Poland and Germany.

Alena contacted her sister, who had been caring for the children, and was told about the Christmas trip.

"No one knew, especially me. It had been kept top secret by the two women. The mother was in London as an illegal immigrant, so it was all very difficult. When the children saw her, they were shell shocked, then couldn't stop hugging each other," said Tina.

The two siblings had arrived in Britain under the auspices of a charity that helps Chernobyl's children and when Tina let the mother take her offspring, found herself in hot water.

"Two days before Christmas I got a letter from the charity's solicitor, accusing me of illegal child immigration, and childnapping.

"I went to Cartmel Priory carol service and when I came home police were on my doorstep. The KGB in Belarus were also involved. I was hung out to dry.

"Three weeks later, I was arrested and taken to Kendal Police Station. Gatwick police were there to interview me. It took three hours to convince them I was as surprised as everyone else to see the mother.

"I was told the KBG had also been looking into illegal childnapping allegations. In the end, it was all right, I was cleared of any underhand dealings. The children are still in London, living legally. They have been given political asylum."

Tina has just returned from Belarus. It was her first trip back since her arrest and investigation.

"I thought there might be problems with my visa, now the KGB have a file on me. I went back to prove a point and to continue my charity work."

Working with a group of four South Lakeland women, Tina helps in fund-raising for an orphanage and special school.

Life in Mogilev, where wages average £15 a month and living costs are similar to ours, is hard. Many live two or three families to a cramped high-rise flat, growing what they can on patches of contaminated land on the city suburbs.

Bereft of state handouts, or pensions, aid comes from Britain, Germany and Italy.

"The orphanage we support looks after 80 children. A couple of months ago staff were having to buy toilet paper with their own money, as there was nothing left from the government's pot," said Tina.

She took out money raised in a March fair and used it to buy basics for the orphanage, and a music centre for the school.

"The week before I was in Belarus, Iraq's Foreign Minister had paid a visit. Word was out that a bolt hole had been offered to Saddam Hussein."

Tina made contact with a KBG agent and set the wheels in motion for a return October visit to document their work.

"The organisation is still very secret, so I am not sure what to expect. On my last night I was sitting up having snifters of vodka until two in the morning with an agent. I thought, here I am, a mother of three from Ayside, drinking with the KGB."

April 24, 2003 11:30