By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
THREE Dominican men who attempted to enter the country with fraudulent visas have each been fined $1,000.
Julio Plasencia, 38, Miguel Rosado, 59, and Andry Abreu, 33, were arrested after they presented fake Bahamian visas to officials at the Lynden Pindling International Airport on November 29.
They each pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a forged document during a hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.
The court was told that the accused arrived in the country from a flight from Cap-Haitien, Haiti around 5pm.
When they presented their passports to a senior immigration officer at the airport, their documents were found to be fraudulent.
The prosecution said the first assistant secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was contacted and copies of the defendants’ visas were sent over for verification. It was then confirmed the visas were forged.
As a result, officials refused Plasencia, Rosado and Abreu leave to land, cautioned them and turned them over to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre for further processing.
When given an opportunity to speak during the hearing, the men, speaking through a Spanish interpreter, told the magistrate they bought the visas for $500 in the Dominican Republic. They claimed the man they received the visas from told them he worked in the Bahamas Consulate’s office on the island and assured them they would be able to go through him to get the documents.
After listening to their explanation, Magistrate Forbes fined them $1,000 each.
He warned them if they failed to pay the fines, they would spend 12 months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.
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