QCOSTARICA – 1:10pm – Authorities in Costa Rica arrested this morning at a downtown San Jose hotel, the Syrian woman who entered Costa Rica with an apparent false Greek passport.
According to the Minister of Security, Gustavo Mata, the woman will now be “processed for the crime of use of a false document.” The minister added that his office will investigate to determine if any public officials provided her entry into the country.
Mata said the woman entered Costa Rica by way of the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport on November 17, arriving on a flight from Argentina (with a stop in Peru), but she was not detained since there was no alert for her capture.
The news of the arrest of five Syrians in Honduras, arriving there from Costa Rica, also with apparent false Greek passports, had Costa Rican immigration authorities review their records.
Celso Gamboa, deputy prosecutor, they are seeking a translator to question here.
The woman now faces a possible jail term of up to six years in prison for using a false document.
For the time being there is no direct evidence tying the woman to the five others, however, Gamboa said they are not ruling out that the woman has some contact in Costa Rica and that authorities will continue to investigate, to learn what she wanted to do in Costa Rica.
Source: Nacion.com,
