By Sue-Ann Wayow
SEVEN Venezuelans who entered the country illegally have been fined a total of $14,000.
The group which included one man – Mauricio Jesus Areyan and six women: Athena Sarai’s Perez Farias, Astrid Angexix Leaf Rodriguez, Adriangela Josefina Caracalla Valderr, Jose Merry Coromoto Areyan Munoz, Karina De Carmen Ramos Condea and Sthefani Sarai’s Perez Farias, were each fined $2,000 by a San Fernando Magistrate.
They were given 30 days to pay the fine or in default, serve two months’ simple imprisonment.
A release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) on Monday stated the group was arrested during an overnight intelligence-led exercise on March 8 by officers of the Immigration Investigations, South.
According to police reports, during the period 9 am to 3 pm on March 7 and 10 am to 2 pm on March 8, an exercise was conducted in several locations in the southern peninsula during which several Venezuelans were arrested as they were all found to have entered the country illegally.
They were all processed at the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Heliport Detention Facility, Chaguaramas.
The exercise is an ongoing initiative of the TTPS Immigration Investigations Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department and Criminal Records Office.
