He felt like someone was following and watching him — turns out, somebody really was

Sometimes when it feels like somebody’s watching your every move, they actually are — and in this case, they had a pretty darned good reason for doing so.

Blaine Police officers responded at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 25 to a restaurant in the 200 block of D Street for the report of an individual scared that he was being followed, according to the department’s weekly press report.

Sina Atael, 26, wasn’t alone in noticing something was off, though, as multiple people also contact Blaine Police about Atael’s behavior, Sgt. Michael Munden said in an email Friday to The Bellingham Herald.

“Mr. Atael told the officer that he believed that the government had people following him and that were listening to everything he said,” Munden said in the email. “In this case, he was partially correct.”

It turns out Atael had walked into Blaine from Canada through Peace Arch Park, Munden said, and no, he hadn’t checked in with U.S. Customs before entering the country.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent, who responded to provide back up for the Blaine officer, took Atael into custody, Munden said.