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Passport-forging Cuban couple jailed for 12 months
Two Cubans who were able to get past immigration officials at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) with forged passports were yesterday charged and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.
Jailed: Alexi Francisco Vasquez
The couple, Alexi Francisco Vasquez, 38, who claimed to be a doctor, and his wife Juliette Sanchez, appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
The charge against them stated that on February 13, 2019, at Moleson Creek, Berbice, with intent to defraud, they uttered to an immigration official, two forged Republic of Cuba passports, purporting to show that they were issued by the Immigration Authority.
Facts presented by Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield stated that the couple came to Guyana on February 11, via the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Jailed: Juliette Sanchez
He added that on February 13, while they were at Moleson Creek attempting to cross over to Suriname, they were asked by an immigration officer to present their passports for examination.
The officer upon examining the passports observed that they were forged. The court heard that the Cubans were then arrested and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) where they told officers that they wanted to travel the world.
They further disclosed that they paid a lawyer US$5,000 and he acquired the passports for them.
The couple spoke through an interpreter and told the court that they came to Guyana to buy clothing for their children.
The Magistrate after considering the couple’s early guilty plea and the fact that they did not waste the court’s time, sentenced them to 12 months imprisonment each.
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