By Heppilena Ferguson
Of the 15 Guyanese denied entry to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) on Monday, one admitted to being involved in a passport fraud; eight were victims of an employment scam; and the others had previously overstayed on the island or their passports were tampered with, Trinidad Information Minister Neil Parsanal said yesterday.
Pasrsanal is in Guyana for a Commonwealth Parliamen-tary Association (CPA) seminar for members of parliament and the media and granted reporters a brief interview on the issue yesterday. He apologized on behalf of the government of T&T, noting that the action taken by his country’s immigration officers might have been demeaning to the Guyanese.
He said that the eight Guyanese who were victims of what “was in fact an employment scam perpetrated on Guyanese”, had letters of invitation from Omni Hotels of Canada and had travelled to T&T to visit the Canadian High Commission in search of Canadian visas. “None had money to support them in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said adding, “they might have been duped.”
T&T, he said, neither ill-treated nor harassed Guyanese or Caricom nationals travelling to the island. However, he said, persons would be denied entry for varying reasons including problems with landed and accompanying documents and advanced passenger information provided before a passenger arrives at a port of entry.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues, when contacted for a comment yesterday told this newspaper that she would be in a better position to pronounce on the incident today, since she was in the process of getting all the information from the local immigration authorities.
“I have also asked for information dating back to as far as the last two months because we understand that similar incidents may have occurred around that time. After that, I would be able to give a statement on the issue. So once we have that information we will make contact with the Trinidadian authorities,” she said.
Danny Hughes, one of four men who said they had letters from the Relamut Group of Companies in Trinidad to do follow- up interviews, told Stabroek News yesterday that he, Mark Saul, Colin Rodney and Trevor Black had approached the immigration officers — a male and a female — in pairs. After they had submitted their passports, he said, they were asked how long they planned to stay on the island. The man said they told the officers that they had purchased one-month tickets and would stay in the country for one month.
“The girl look at our picture and she asked what was our business there and we told her about the interview and we showed her our letter of invitation for the interview,” he said.
According to Hughes, his two other colleagues — Rodney and Black — were being tended to by the male immigration officer who then asked the woman officer whether there was any problem and at that time he said he and his colleagues indicated that they were all together.
The man said they also informed the immigration authorities that Dr Samuel Joseph who owns a construction and engineering firm – Relamut Group of Companies – would pick them up at the airport, but this did not convince the authorities that their visit was a legitimate one. At that point, he said, they were asked to wait on a bench opposite the officials’ cubicle and their documents were taken, checked and the authorities told them that they would make contact with Joseph.
“They come back about an hour after and told us that they didn’t get no answer when they call him and that the company did not exist,” he said.
The man added that they were subject to verbal abuse at the hands of an officer. However, he said, he was taken to the airport’s lower flat to purchase a phone card and he managed to call Joseph who told him that he had not been contacted by any immigration authorities, and could not understand why the men were being denied entry.
The man said they were accused of going to the twin island republic to take away Trinidadian jobs.
After four hours of waiting for word from the T&T authorities, he said, they were finally handed rejection slips and this was when they knew that they would be sent home.
They returned to Guyana around 10.45 pm on Monday.
The man told this newspaper that he had worked in Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis in the past and had only been an in-transit passenger in Trinidad, adding that this was his first time trying to gain entry there.
Hughes admitted that flights arrived later in the day with many Guyanese who did not experience any problems with immigration and gained entry.
This newspaper’s efforts to make contact with Trinidad and Tobago’s Chief Im-migration Officer Andy Edwards proved futile. This newspaper was told that Edwards was out of the country and his deputy was in a meeting. The telephone call was transferred to the immigration investigative department, but it went unanswered.
Stabroek News also contacted Guyana’s Honorary Consul in Trinidad, Ernie Ross, who said he only learned of the refusals when this newspaper called. He promised to investigate.
Coming home
Coming back home for the men did not mean it was all over as their travel documents were taken to the Criminal Investigation Department and they will have to wait some time before they are returned to them.
Saul told this newspaper that he was treated like a prisoner since during his visit to CID his fingerprints and personal information were recorded and he said he was asked to hold a piece of wood with a number on it and have his picture taken. “I didn’t commit any crime and I wasn’t deported. I was just refused entry and so I don’t understand why they had to do all of that,” the man said.
He said they were told to return to CID headquarters next Thursday to collect their passports.
A high-ranking police source confirmed to this newspaper yesterday that this was customary procedure for persons in such situations.
