It's certainly not implausible. Expats frequently get recruited overseas when they stay in one spot long enough and seem like lone rangers. When I was working in Moscow some years back I was recruited by both the Mossad and the FSB. The Mossad lady was quite odd, but it was nice walking around the city with her (she knew it much better than I did). The incompetent FSB dude annoyingly followed me around all the time, but he was friendly enough when I dragged him in out of the snow in the middle of the night after he got drunk & passed out so he wouldn't freeze his stupid a&& to death....
He showed no signs of being a pro but he seem to be there for more then electonics.