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| Africa Horn |
| 25 Somali nationals in court over forged passports |
| 2013-10-10 |
| [Shabelle] Twenty five Somali nationals were on Wednesday arraigned in court to answer charges of using passports with forged endorsements and being unlawfully in the country. The accused appeared before Nairobi Acting Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ndwiga and were charged that on Monday at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport being Somali nationals they presented passports with forged permit endorsements contrary to Section 54(1) (c) of the Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011. In another count the accused were also alleged to knowingly possessing and using Somali passports with forged immigration security stamp endorsements on their passports. They are also facing charges of being unlawfully in Kenya. Court heard that the accused being Somali nationals were found to be unlawfully present in Kenya yet they did not have valid passes allowing them to stay in the country. In his submissions one of the lawyers for the accused Mr Hassan Lakicha argued that his clients were victims of circumstance as they were misled by agents who took their passports for endorsements. "My clients were on pilgrimage to Mecca for prayers and they saw it prudent to trust agents to have their passports endorsed little did they know they were being duped," he argued All the accused pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to the charges and were granted by the magistrate cash bail of Sh 100,000 or bond of sh200, 000 and a Kenyan surety of similar amount. Hearing of the cases will be held between November 21 and 28. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Forged passports? That's our gig!" (1/2 of Pakistan) |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-10-10 00:04 |