Haitian Nationals Busted With False Belizean Visas At P.G.I.A.

Two Haitian nationals carrying passports with fake Belizean visas were busted by Immigration authorities at the Phillip Goldson Airport on Tuesday. The men, thirty-two-year-old Donald Gedeon and thirty-six-year-old Choubert Senat, arrived in Belize on the Avianca flight from El Salvador with Haitian passports. They attracted attention because they seemed to be lingering at the back of the line. The officer on duty requested their passports and embarkation forms, which were incomplete. The address on the said forms was Belmopan, with no address or house number. The visas in the passports were immediately recognized as counterfeit, since they lacked security features and were noticeably different. The men would tell authorities only that they paid five hundred US for the visas. Both Haitian nationals appeared in court this afternoon and were charged with attempting to use a permit/visa which was not issued to be used by lawful authority. They pleaded guilty and were fined two thousand dollars, in default one year in prison. Upon payment of the fine, both men would have been placed on a flight back home. But by four thirty this afternoon neither Senat nor Gedeon were able to meet the fines. Both were escorted to the Belize Central Prison.