Immigration officials intercepted three men who were trying to make their way into Belize using fake documents. The men, were identified as Joel Jaimes Gonzalez, 40, who carried a fake Guatemalan passport under the name Nestor Bayona Carreno while his twin brother Joany Jaimes Gonzalez carried with him a fake Guatemalan passport under the name Felipe Bayona Carreno. A third man, Nigerian national, Patrick Joshua Aibaengbee, 53 was also found trying to enter the country using a fake Belizean visa.
The bust occurred at the Philip Goldson International airport at around 4:00p.m. as the three men tried to make their way into the country after coming off an AVIANCA flight from El Salvador. According to Immigration Officials, airport staff noticed discrepancies in the travelling documents of the three men who were all travelling together. The men were then detained and upon closer inspection it was deemed that the documents the men were travelling with were not authentic.
Further investigation found out that the twin brothers were using Guatemalan passports when they also had Cuban passports in their possession. These however were under different names.
For his part Aibaengbee tried to enter into the country using a Belizean visa that is no longer issued by Belizean authorities.
On Friday April 4, Joel Jaimes Gonzalez, and his brother Joany Jaimes Gonzalez, both pleaded guilty to the offense of using a passport not entitle to when they appeared in Magistrate’s court before Magistrate Leslie Hamilton. In mitigation, Joel told the court, “Everything was done voluntarily, we acted on our own. We regret and we do apologize”. Both brothers were fined $1,000 each plus $5.00 cost of court which they were ordered to pay forthwith in default, 6 months imprisonment.
Nigerian national, Patrick Joshua Aibaengbee, 53, was charged with a single count of possession of a fraudulent document being a Belizean visa. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was denied bail and remanded to the Belize Central Prison until April 29, 2014 when his case will be tried.
Source: guardian
