Fifty-five year old Tanzanian national Teena Isacc, who attempted to get a Belizean passport by using a Belizean birth certificate and a Belizean social security card, was sent to Belize Central Prison today after she appeared before Magistrate Dale Cayetano and pled guilty to charges of falsifying a document, failure to comply with the conditions of a visitor’s permit, using a document she is not entitled to use and using a certificate she is not entitled to use. She pled guilty to the charges and she was fined $1,000 for each offence. She was ordered to pay the fines forthwith. In default of payment, her sentence is one year for each count with the stipulation that the sentences are to run concurrently, so she will serve one year. She was unable to pay she was taken to prison. About 11:45 a.m. yesterday, Isacc went to the Immigration Department and submitted an application for a Belizean passport. She used a Belizean birth certificate and a Belizean social security card, both of them in the name of Carmen Cantun of San Narciso, Corozal. She was unable to answer some questions put to her by an immigration officer and after she was questioned extensively she admitted that the birth certificate and social security card were false. It was discovered in her Tanzanian passport that she came to Belize from the northern border and her visa permit has expired. The Immigration Department has made an application for a removal order for her to be deported to Tanzania either after she has paid the fine or served the time.
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