By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Staff Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
FIFTEEN immigrants were charged in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday with breaching the Immigration Act.
Magistrate Simone Brown charged the group of 11 men and four women. They all pleaded guilty to illegal embarkation.
The nationals were from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. They all left Grand Bahama in early December on a vessel to Florida in an attempted human smuggling incident.
US Coast Guard officials intercepted two groups at sea in US waters. One group was discovered 15 miles east of Miami, and the second was found 11 miles off Key Biscayne, Florida.
US officials detained a Bahamian man and an Italian national in connection with the incident.
The immigrants were taken back to Grand Bahama to face charges.
Magistrate Brown imposed a fine of $300 each or six months imprisonment and ordered their deportation.
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