Eleven Venezue­lans have been ar­rest­ed and charged for fail­ure to re­port to an im­mi­gra­tion of­fi­cer at a Port of En­try and breach of the Pub­lic Health Or­di­nance Reg­u­la­tions.

Ac­cord­ing to an of­fi­cial re­lease from the Po­lice Ser­vice, the group was de­tained in two sep­a­rate in­ci­dents.

The first in­ci­dent oc­curred on Feb­ru­ary 9th at Sol­da­do Rock off the Ce­dros Coast, while the oth­er in­ci­dent took place on Feb­ru­ary 16th, 2021 at Chatham Beach.

The de­tained Venezue­lan na­tion­als ap­peared be­fore Mag­is­trate Ali­cia Chankar on Mon­day 8th March 2021, to an­swer to the charges.

Of the 11 men and women who ap­peared be­fore the court, ten plead­ed guilty to the charges.  Six have been rep­ri­mand­ed at the Aripo De­ten­tion Cen­tre pend­ing repa­tri­a­tion. The lone per­son who plead­ed not guilty was re­mand­ed in­to cus­tody.

The re­main­ing four Venezue­lans were dis­charged.