MARIGOT--Police aux Frontières (PAF) announced recently that it had carried out a test control of documents and passports at Princess Juliana International Airport on March 23, as a precursor to what will become standard procedure with airport immigration officials of the Dutch side.
The procedures are part of the agreed requirements stipulated in the Declaration of Intent, signed between the government of St. Maarten, the Collectivité of Saint-Martin and the French State on February 15, to reinforce controls at the airport.
The Préfecture's Chef de Cabinet Matthieu Doligez said at a press conference another control would be carried out shortly pending the signing of a protocol between French and Dutch sides to formalise the operation and identify responsibilities of agents from each side. The protocol will be signed after the presidential elections.
Commandant of the PAF Raphaël Harlé stated the presence of PAF agents at the airport is to control documents of travellers and detect false papers. PAF agents as well as staff at the Collectivité have attended a training course on detecting false documents. Staff at Hotel de La Collectivité can call the PAF if they are in doubt about documents presented. In one case false documents were detected recently.
It was noted that it was increasingly hard to obtain a fake passport or fake driving license, but the documents used to obtain a genuine passport or driving license can be falsified.
Commandant Harlé added the PAF has no authority to make arrests on Dutch side territory and if a passenger is suspect, the Dutch side police will be notified and it will be up to them whether or not to make an arrest.
The control on March 23 turned up one false document, a fake diploma in the possession of an Indian national on his way to St. Lucia to enrol in a medical facility. Because his travel documents were in order, PAF alerted immigration authorities in St. Lucia to arrest the individual on arrival.
For the time being two PAF agents will be posted at Princess Juliana Airport from 9:00am to 6:00pm. Five more agents will arrive in June to complete a rotation for a daily presence at the airport. The assignments at the airport have no effect on the other operations of the PAF.
A logistics office, where French and Dutch side investigators can process files of persons arrested, is in the process of being set up at the airport.
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