ST. EUSTATIUS--A Caribbean Netherlands Police Force KPCN officer was convicted Tuesday by the Joint Court of Justice in St. Eustatius for human smuggling and forgery.
The officer in question had arranged for a woman from the Dominican Republic to be brought to Statia. He arranged her application at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service IND, in which he had indicated that it concerned a case of family reunification between him and the woman.
This turned out to be incorrect after an investigation revealed that there was no question of family reunification at all, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
The accused officer’s secondary task was to supervise foreign nationals and to assist with their expulsion. Therefore, he could be expected to be aware of immigration procedures and rules, the Prosecutor’s Office stated.
The judge sentenced the officer to a prison term of nine months, three months of which were suspended on two years’ probation.
In the sentence, the judge considered the consequences for the officer involved.
The investigation, which was led by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bonaire, Statia and Saba, was conducted by the National Detectives (“Rijksrecherche”), which investigates criminal acts committed by public officials, including the police.
Based in Bonaire, the National Detectives has been permanently active in the Caribbean Netherlands as of last year.
