A Nigerian national was last Thursday ordered to pay a fine of $200,000 after he admitted to forging a Guyanese passport and identification card.
A city court heard that between April 6 and April 10, 2016, at Georgetown, Mohamed Camara, 43, with intent to defraud, conspired with known and unknown persons, to forge a Republic of Guyana passport and an identification card under the name of Allen Wade Johnson as having been issued by the Central Immigration Office and the Guyana Elections Commission, respectively.
Camara pleaded guilty to both offences, which were read to him by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones told the court that Camara uttered the passport to immigration officers at Moleson Creek to travel to Suriname and they detected that it was fake. Jones said a search was further carried out on Camara’s person and the officers found the identification card.
According to Camara, he was approached by some men who asked him if he needed a passport and an identification card. He said when he received the card, the men told him that the documents were all originals. He told the court that he was very sorry.
Attorney Paul Fung-A-Fat, who represented, Camara, told the court that his client was conned by the men who allegedly approached him and offered him the documents. He said that even though his client is a Nigerian, he lives and works in Saint Lucia and was passing through Guyana on his way to Suriname.
Camara was subsequently fined, $100,000 for each charge or three weeks in prison in default. Fung-A-Fat said Camara would serve the sentence since he did not have the money to pay the fine. He would then be deported back to Saint Lucia.
