Five persons who were arrested among the suspects in a crime ring that was selling false Guyanese passports, false St. Maarten residency papers and identification cards, have been deported to Guyana, the St Martin News Network has reported.
According to the report, three of the suspects were deported weeks after their March 28 arrest, while the two main suspects, identified as Bibi Yasmin Hussain and Katip Kholadin, were deported last Saturday and were arrested on their arrival.
The report said that the St Maarten police bungled the investigation, thereby giving lawyers who represented the suspects the upper-hand while the suspects were in pre-trial detention. Police say they did not have enough evidence to prosecute the suspects, therefore, they felt it was a best to deport them to Guyana where the crime of falsifying documents was committed, the report said. It also noted that two other persons, who were also held as suspects, were released, since they were in possession of valid working papers for St. Maarten.
Attempts by Stabroek News to get a comment from Crime Chief Seelall Persaud on the issue proved futile. He was, however, quoted by the St Martin News Network as saying that the suspects can only be held for a maximum of 72 hours but that an that an investigation will be launched to determine how Katip Kholadin managed to get someone to authenticate his photograph, which allowed him to apply for a Guyanese passport with someone else’s birth certificate.
The report said Hussain and Kholadin had to request travel documents from authorities in Guyana so that they could have travelled here. Hussain told authorities on St. Maarten that she had lost her passport while Kholadin could not use the false document he was in possession of when arrested.
According to the report, Hussain and her two sons were held after police arrested and interrogated her third son, Kholadin, who was caught with a false St. Maarten’s identification card and residency papers. He was also in possession of a valid Guyanese passport that was issued with a deceased man’s birth certificate.
While the passport bore the photograph of Katip Kholadin, the information such as name and date of birth belonged to a deceased person, whose name was Anthony Jamesie. Police also released the $34,700 they found during the house search. The news report said that information received indicated that one of Hussain’s son’s, who was working as a bartender, claimed the money belonged to him since he did not have a bank account.
Persaud was also quoted as saying that he was aware of the case where several Guyanese nationals were arrested with falsified documents but one of the setbacks authorities in Guyana face is the lack of cooperation from St. Maarten’s authorities. Persaud, according to the report, said the suspects were arrested some weeks ago in St. Maarten and up to last week he did not receive the documents that were confiscated by the authorities in St. Maarten. He said that photocopies of the fake Guyanese passports were submitted to Guyana’s Consulate in Antigua to verify if the travel documents were authentic but that the police are unable to work with photocopies of falsified documents to prosecute suspects.
Persaud said he was out of the country last week and he was unable to say whether or not the Commissioner of Police received those documents during his absence.
Meanwhile, St. Maarten’s Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos said that St. Maarten and Guyana do not have a working treaty but authorities here can always make an official request for the evidence or information, which will be handed over. Mos said St. Maarten just cannot send information to another country if it is not requested and those requesting the information also have to state what they intend to do with the information they are requesting. Documents and evidence that were seized have to pass through a certain chain of command when it is used in the criminal justice system, Mos said.
The report noted that while there are over 4,000 Guyanese nationals residing on St. Maarten, Guyana does not have an appointed representative on the island to represent its nationals. As a result, the report said, prosecuting suspects with falsified documents seems almost impossible.
