The incident was denounced by cameraman Jason Blanchard, who said the surfer has also had his mobile phone, backpack and shoelaces taken from him.

Blanchard posted the comment on his Instagram account this morning and complained that Reynolds is being “treated like a criminal”.

The surfer is understood to have arrived at Lisbon airport on a flight from the UK and lost his passport somewhere in-between.

Some observers in Portugal have however indicated that this a normal procedure, and have questioned what treatment an undocumented Portuguese citizen would expect to currently receive upon arriving in the United States.