JUDGE SMID STRIKES AGAIN...WILL HE DO THE RIGHT THING?

The Dutch Island of St. Maarten Involved in Human Smuggling--Will Judge Smid Act Upon This Travesty? Only Time Will Tell!

PHILIPSBURG/St. Maarten--Three female immigration officers who worked at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) face allegations of involvement in human smuggling, accepting of bribes and membership of a criminal organisation.

Prosecutor Dikran Sarian said the women had made St. Maarten a “transhipment point for illegal immigrants” and asked for 145 days, one year suspended with two years’ probation, and a US $3,000 fine for suspect S.A.M. (27).


For V.V.M.S. (23) Sarian asked for a 146-day prison sentence on top of a two-year suspended jail term with two years’ probation, 100 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine. For S.M.R. he asked the judge to impose a 48-day prison sentence and 6 months suspended with two years’ probation, 240 hours of community service and a $3,000 fine.


The women were the first to appear before Judge Rick Smid on Tuesday. They will be followed today, Wednesday, by five other suspects in this large scale case. The two main suspects, A.C.H. (28) of St. Eustatius and Y.F.J. (26), will be tried on Thursday. The three officers all denied Tuesday that they had done anything wrong in performing their duties at the airport between January 2006 and the days they were arrested in October and November 2006.



All three admitted they had received considerable amounts of money from alleged leader of the illegal operations A.C.H. But, they said, this was not in return for services, but just because this wealthy man liked to flaunt his money. The Prosecutor’s Office is accusing the Immigration officers of having admitted Chinese and nationals of the Dominican Republic access to the Netherlands Antilles without their having the proper travel documents, and of helping them in travelling to the U.S. Virgin Islands.


The women said they had merely followed instructions by their superiors in which it was stated they should let through Chinese nationals who were in transit in St. Maarten while travelling to other islands in the Caribbean, even if they were travelling without visas and tickets to their final destinations.


According to the women’s defence lawyers, this policy was according to a ministerial decree that was issued, but Sarian said this decree had been replaced by a new policy because it had been misused for the illegal entry of undocumented persons into St. Maarten. It was then stated that persons travelling from so-called high-risk countries such as China, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana, but also countries in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, travelling without a visa should be refused at all times.


According to the Prosecutor, the three female Immigration officers had given undocumented travellers from China access to the country on the indication of A.C.H. and with the assistance of other persons working at PJIA. The suspect’s lawyers all pleaded for the acquittal of their clients for lack of evidence.


Judge Smid will be handing down his ruling in these cases on April 24. (Let's see what Judge Smid does this time...I'm not holding my breath with that degenerate scumbag.)



Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/j269/immig269.html