PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Justice Roland Duncan says there is "nothing unusual" about a report of two persons leaving St. Maarten with fraudulent passports. Head of Immigration at the Airport Geronimo Juliet echoed these sentiments.
The Trinidad Guardian newspaper reported at the end of November that a mystery couple believed to be Israelis had been detained shortly after their arrival in Trinidad and Tobago with fraudulent passports. They spent five months at Comfort Suite Hotel, Piarco, at Caribbean Airline's expense, being guarded by the airline's security, before they escaped on November 20.
Their passports had been seized by the Immigration Division and it is not known whether the wanted man and woman fled the country using false passports or still are hiding in Trinidad and Tobago.
The woman identified as Anastasia Kurakin and the man Robert Ochakovsky reportedly were treated leniently by Immigration officials in St. Maarten. They allegedly were connected in some way with a plot to assassinate the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister and some members of her cabinet.
Minister Duncan said in the weeks after he had been informed by The Daily Herald that he had not heard about the case from Trinidad authorities. "From my end there is nothing unusual that happened. That's it," said Duncan.
Juliet said he and the Minister had spoken about the case and searched for the report. He confirmed that the persons had travelled through Princess Juliana International Airport, but said all their documents had checked out, so they had been allowed to leave.
Juliet agreed that an investigation should be carried out, but as no official complaint had been filed by Trinidad, none would be done. The Immigration Department has no intention of starting an investigation based on news reports.
"Why are we going to wake a sleeping dog?" said Juliet. "If they want to know, they will call us. If they don't, then they don't want to know and they don't call us. We won't make an issue about it."
No subsequent reports on the mystery couple have appeared in the Trinidad Guardian so far.
Gender Retail industry Endangered species Burlesque Bank of England Cultural trips
No comments:
Post a Comment