Four Foreigners Guilty of Illegal Entry

Tonight, four foreigners are awaiting expulsion after they pleaded guilty to illegal entry. For the same incident, two Belizeans who were accused of facilitating the foreigners after they entered Belize illegally have also pleaded guilty. The four foreigners are Emil Dasdamirov, Mistaftar Oglu, and Karman Amurili, all from Azerbaijan near Iran, and Brazilian national, Gilson Fernandes Junior. Allegations are that on June nineteenth, they entered Belize through the banks of the Mopan River in Benque Viejo del Carmen. They all pleaded guilty and apologized for committing the offence. One of them told the court that he entered Belize through Honduras and that he thought that after they crossed the river, they would have met the Immigration Office, something they have done before. He said they were told they could travel through Belize with their European visa which allows them multiple entries. Another said he was told they could enter the same way. The four men were fined a thousand dollars each, plus a five-dollar cost of court fine and they were ordered to pay their fines forthwith or they would spend six months in jail. The magistrate also issued an expulsion order for them to be sent back to their native countries. Following the arraignment, two Belizeans who were caught assisting the group of four upon their illegal arrival into Belize were charged for facilitating the commission of a crime. Twenty-eight-year-old Jasmine Espat, a Store Manager and Clerk at Naybaz Store in Belmopan and her common-law husband, Samuel Peters, a traffic officer of Santa Elena, pleaded guilty to facilitating the commission of a crime. Espat was the front-seat passenger in a Chevrolet Malibu vehicle that was intercepted the same day at the intersection of the Phillip Goldson Highway and the Burrell Boom Road carrying the four foreigners. Peters was said to be the driver of the vehicle. Espat told the court that she fell into hardship and had to deal with a sick child, and health issues and that when the men approached them and offered to pay five hundred dollars, she accepted. Peters told the court a similar story. He said he felt ashamed, having been employed only three weeks ago as a traffic officer. Their guilty plea was accepted, and the magistrate said she wanted to send them both to jail for the offence, but because it was their first offense, she would warn them of the serious offense they have committed. She said that no hardship should have made them break the law. The couple who was not paid for the job they accepted from the foreigners are now facing fines of a thousand dollars each plus cost of court. Espat was ordered to pay her fine immediately, or face five months in prison and Peters was given until July thirty-first to pay his.