Bolivian jailed over false passport
18.02.09
A Bolivian man arrested in connection with an attempted mass people smuggling operation at Edinburgh Airport has been jailed for a year after admitting possessing a false passport, the Evening News reports.
Boris Velasco was detained at the airport along with 18 other Bolivians after arriving on a flight from Bolivia via Frankfurt last November. Four months earlier, in what is thought to have been a related incident, 40 Bolivians were refused entry to the UK after landing at Aberdeen Airport having arrived on a flight via amsterdam. However, they were released to return to the airport the next day because of a lack of holding cells and all but two absconded!
Mr Velasco, a 30-year-old pilot from Bolivia, faced charges under the Immigration Act relating to organising illegal entry into Britain. But Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told he was not aware of his involvement in the people smuggling operation and was himself duped into travelling to the UK. He pleaded guilty to possessing a false passport and was sentenced to a year in jail today. He will be deported after he has served his sentence.
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