Immigration officer slapped with conspiracy charges

TIMES INT'L

Immigration Officer Jonathan Rausch on Tuesday stood before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan to answer three counts of conspiracy to commit a felony.
The 25-year-old denied all three of the charges, which alleged that on April 1, 2018, while at his place of employment at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri East Bank Demerara, he conspired with a person or persons unknown to commit a felony by forging the Border Management System (BMS) with intent to defraud the public, purporting to show that Colombian nationals Juan Carlos and Maquilon Perez had entered Guyana on March 27, 2018.
The prosecutor told the court that on April 1, at about 15:00h, a Beech jet from Aruba, bearing registration numbers N119TC, landed at the CJIA for an emergency fuel stop, and subsequently departed with Carlos and Perez without any documentation.
An investigation launched revealed that the names of the Colombians were not featured on the manifest, nor were there any embarkment or dismemberment cards in favour of the duo, as is prescribed by the law.
A thorough check of the BMS further revealed that the accused immigration officer had allegedly entered and updated those names into the system to show that the Colombians had arrived in Guyana aboard another flight.
As suspicions grew, the accused was contacted, questioned, and subsequently told of the allegations, which he denied. Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan has placed the defendant on G$150,000 bail, and has set the matter to continue on September 17.

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