(Trinidad Guardian) Two men, a Chinese and a Guyanese, were each fined $5,000 yesterday after appearing on separate charges of illegal entry into the country and possession of a tampered passport.
Decao Yang, 22, who has been in the country illegally for more than two years, pleaded guilty when he appeared before San Fernando magistrate Gloria Jasmath.
Yang was arrested on January 24, 2007 at Cipero Road, San Fernando.
Court prosecutor Sgt Harold Ishmael said Yang was walking along the road when he was stopped and interviewed by officers of the Immigration Division Enforcement Unit who were patrolling the area.
After discovering that Yang was here illegally, the officers took him to the San Fernando Immigration Office.
Yang was kept in custody while Cpl Curtis Howard conducted inquires.
The prosecutor said on March 9 Howard showed him a boarder management system report which showed he entered and left T&T in September 2014. There was no record of him returning to T&T.
In answer to the magistrate, Yang, through the assistance of Chinese interpreter Aaron Leung, said he had been staying with friends here. He offered no other information and was not asked any other questions. He was given a month to pay the money or serve six months in jail.
In the other matter, Guyanese national Travis Sampson, 22, also pleaded guilty to having a tampered passport. He was detained on February 2 at Chin Chin Road, Cunupia by officers of the Las Lomas Police Station after they discovered he too was in the country illegally.
Sampson was subsequently handed over to an immigration officer and Cpl Howard conducted inquires which revealed the stamp on his passport was no longer authorised to be used by the Immigration.
When confronted with this, Sampson said, “My mother got that stamp for me.”
Sampson told the magistrate that they did not know the procedure to get an extension to stay, but his mother met a woman who took $1,800 to get his passport stamped.
She told them she knew an immigration officer and in three days they could collect the passport.
He said on the third day his mother collected the passport with the stamp, but did not meet the immigration officer.
Sampson was also given a month to pay the fine or serve six months in jail.
