By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
SEVEN Haitians and one Jamaican were charged with illegal embarkation in Freeport yesterday.
THE foreign nationals appeared before Magistrate LaQuay Laing. According to the prosecution, on Friday, June 11, they were found on a vessel in waters off West End, Grand Bahama, embarked in the country and planning to exit the jurisdiction without leave of an immigration officer.
They all pleaded guilty to the charge.
Magistrate Laing ordered the foreign nationals be held in the custody of immigration officials for deportation to their home country.
This comes after a group of Haitian migrants were rescued from waters off West End last Friday after the boat that they were on capsized near Memory Rock. Two of the migrants drowned and five others are still missing.
It is suspected the group was involved in an illegal smuggling operation to the United States.
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