At the Blairmont Court on Monday, Magistrate Tejnarine Ramroop fined two citizens of Holland $45,000 each after they admitted to charges of illegal entry and possession of narcotics and ordered their immediate deportation.
The court heard that on April 4 Joshua David Ramsarran, 20, and Mario Melvin Sobayo, 23, entered Guyana at the Number 78 Village, Corentyne foreshore by speedboat at a place other than a port of entry and failed to present themselves to immigration authorities.
They were also charged on the same day with having in their possession one gramme of cannabis sativa at the Rosignol Stelling.
In a plea of mitigation, defence counsel, attorney-at-law, Joel Edmond asked the magistrate to be lenient with his clients, taking into consideration that they did not waste the court’s time.
He also made a request that the men not be incarcerated “since that would put an extra strain on the economy, given that the state has to feed them for a length of time.” He also submitted that the men should be deported instead of being in incarceration.
Edmond informed the court that Ramsarran, a designer and student of a university in Holland and Sabayo, a construction worker were on their way to visit the Kaieteur Falls in the company of two Guyanese tour guides.
He stated that the guides robbed them of a bag containing their passports and other personal belongings and left them stranded at the stelling. The lawyer further submitted that his clients were “trying to find their way around to an immigration office or a police station when they met a police officer.”
He said the officer searched them and found the substance and subsequently arrested and charged them.
