Thirteen out of 15 Venezuelan nationals who were found to have entered the country illegally have been fined by a Magistrate after being arrested by officers of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Immigration Investigations Unit.

According to the TTPS, five Venezuelan females and ten Venezuelan males were arrested between 8:30 am and 2 pm, on Monday 11th December 2023 and 10 am and 3:30 pm, on Tuesday 12th December 2023, during exercises conducted by officers of the Immigration Investigations Unit, Areas North and South.

The intelligence-led exercise was coordinated by Supt. Pariman, ASP Ramdass, Insp. Philip and Sgt. Daulat and involved the officers conducting searches at several locations in the Southern and Western Divisions.

The 15 individuals appeared virtually before Magistrate Armina Deonarinesingh, where they pleaded guilty to the charges. The five females were all fined $5,000 each or in default face nine
months’ simple imprisonment, while eight of the ten males were fined $5,000 each or in default nine months’ hard labour. They have 30 days in which to pay the fines.

Two of the males were remanded into custody pending further investigations. The exercise was part of an ongoing initiative of the TTPS Immigration Investigations Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Meanwhile, officers of the Four Roads CID and Canine Branch conducted an exercise in the Petit Valley district between 4 pm and 8 pm, on Tuesday 12th December, 2023, during which they arrested one male suspect and a quantity of marijuana.

The drugs were found hidden in a silver Nissan B-14 motor vehicle and weighed approximately 1.1 kilogrammes. Investigations are ongoing into the above matter.