Iraqis had forged tourist visas

Police officials in Jamaica remain tight-lipped tonight, but some details are emerging in the continuing saga of ten Iraqi citizens detained in Montego Bay en route to Belize. A press release from Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration states that an investigation, in cooperation with the Government of Jamaica, has shown that the Belize visas carried by the Iraqis were forgeries, displaying numbers that do not conform with any issued by the Immigration Department. The group, which appears to be comprised of at least some family members, including two children, three women and five men, arrived in Montego Bay Sunday night from Havana. They are said to have purchased their tickets in Amman, Jordan and their itinerary took them to Moscow where they boarded an Aeroflot jet to Cuba. As to why they were stopped at Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport, a Jamaican official would only say that their travel documents were “not intact”. Two of the ten Iraqis also hold Canadian passports and they were scheduled to be returned to Canada this afternoon. The remaining eight were supposed to be expelled from Jamaica either tonight or tomorrow, ostensibly back to Cuba. One of the two Canadians is believed to be a former Iraqi immigration officer and police suspect that he is the leader of an illegal immigration ring. Where the group was supposed to go after arriving in Belize is anybody’s guess, but their eventual destination was presumably the U.S.A. Jamaican sources tell News 5 that F.B.I. investigators, who were called in precipitously over fears of a terrorist angle, are satisfied that the Iraqis were not part of any plot against the United States.