Venezuelan brothers jailed, fined for illegal entry

Magistrate Priya Beharry yesterday sentenced two Venezuelan nationals who had illegally entered Guyana to six months imprisonment and imposed a $30,000 fine on  each of them for the offence when they appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Animol Jose Blanko and his brother Harvey Jose Blanko both pleaded guilty to the charge of illegal entry into Guyana.

They admitted that they illegally entered Guyana on August 9 at Charity, Essequibo River, without presenting themselves to an immigration officer.

The prosecution stated that on the day in question, the two men entered Guyana through Charity, Essequibo River and were later found at Port Kaituma by police officers who arrested them when they failed to present their passports.

The men told the court that they had come to Guyana on a boat with several others and they came here “to take a walk.”