Two more convicted of passport fraud in St. Lucia

Saturday, October 11, 2003

CASTRIES, St Lucia: Days after Grenada nabbed two Republic of China nationals with Taiwanese passports, St. Lucian authorities have caught two more non-nationals with fraudulent passports. 

CMC last night reported that Messrs. Garber Urbaez Feliz, 33, of the Dominican Republic; and Romeo Kumar, 27, of Guyana, pleaded guilty to the offence of illegal possession of altered passports when they appeared before Magistrate Horace Frazer on Thursday 9th October. 

The two were fined US$3,700 each and ordered to pay the amounts immediately or spend the next six months in prison. Mr. Feliz reportedly told St. Lucia police that he purchased a United States passport in St. Kitts for US$600 dollars with the intention of travelling to Puerto Rico to meet his wife and children. 

Immigration officers at George F.L. Charles airport in Castries suspected something was wrong with the passport and questioned him about his inability to speak English fluently. The court heard that Mr. Feliz admitted to the officers that he purchased the passport and informed them of his correct identity and nationality. 

Mr. Kumar was caught trying to board the same flight out of St Lucia as Mr. Feliz. He was arrested and charged. Immigration officers at the airport called the name inscribed on a St. Kitts passport bearing Mr. Kumar's photograph several times with no response from Mr. Kumar. 

The court heard that an officer, noticing that Mr. Kumar was constantly looking backwards, questioned him about his name and identity. He immediately confessed that he purchased the St. Kitts passport in St. Lucia for US$1,000. 

Last week, Guyanese, Mr. Fitzroy Holligan, was also caught with false travel documents. He was fined US$370 dollars for possession of an altered St. Lucia passport, with an alternative of six months imprisonment. 

The authorities here say they are very concerned over the increasing number of non-nationals passing through the island bearing fraudulent passports.

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