Derek Achong

A group of Ja­maican na­tion­als em­ployed by a se­cu­ri­ty com­pa­ny have been charged with be­ing em­ployed with­out pos­sess­ing a valid work per­mit. The 12 women and three men, ages 28 to 54, ap­peared be­fore Mag­is­trate Mar­cia Mur­ray in the Port-of-Spain First Court where they all plead­ed guilty to the of­fence and were each fined $500 to be paid forth­with or in de­fault serve ten days sim­ple im­pris­on­ment. They were still in their com­pa­ny uni­form when they ap­peared in court.

At­tor­ney Richard Clarke-Wills, who rep­re­sent­ed the group, told the court they came to Trinidad to seek em­ploy­ment and to send the mon­ey they earned home to sup­port their fam­i­lies. The group was picked up by a team of Im­mi­gra­tion and po­lice of­fi­cers who said they had the busi­ness place un­der sur­veil­lance since last month. They were ar­rest­ed on Thurs­day dur­ing a raid. Mean­while, in a sep­a­rate Im­mi­gra­tion ex­er­cise, a Niger­ian na­tion­al yes­ter­day was fined $10,000