(Trinidad Guardian) A total of 53 illegal immigrants were detained yesterday as a joint task force swooped down on known hideouts along the East/West corridor.
According to a release from the T&T Police Service, the two-hour exercise, which was held at varying points along the Priority Bus Route, from the Aranguez Savannah to Morvant Junction, began at 6 am, and initially led to the detention of 107 foreign nationals.
They included the following nationalities: 39 Jamaicans, 25 Guyanese, 18 Chinese, five Ghanaians, six Colombians, five Nigerians, two Cubans, one Filipino, two Dominican Republic nationals, one Vincentian and five Grenadians. A total of 16 women were among the detainees.
The task force stopped passenger vehicles travelling along the PBR and foreign nationals suspected of being illegal immigrants were detained after being unable to verify their immigration status at the time.
The detainees were taken to the Immigration Investigation Department, Port-of-Spain, where further enquiries were conducted leading to the release of 54 foreign nationals whose status in the country was verified and found to be legal.
The remaining foreign nationals were taken to the Immigration Detention Centre, Aripo, pending further investigations as preliminary enquiries suggest they are in the country illegally.
The raid targeting illegal immigrants was carried out by officers of the Criminal Investigations Department, Inter-Agency Task Force, Immigration Investigation Department, transit police and traffic wardens.
It was co-ordinated by Snr Supt Mc Donald Jacob of the Port-of-Spain Criminal Investigations Department and led by ASP Mervyn Edwards, assisted by immigration officers.
