Six Frenchmen Fined $1,000 for Illegal Entry; Gunfire Btw Police and Entrants

Six Frenchmen have been fined $1,000 each for docking illegally in Dominican waters. The men entered the country on a yacht on January 27 and were arrested at Batalie after going ashore to dine at a restaurant. The men claimed they were on their way from Guadeloupe to Martinique and decided to dock in Dominica and pass the night in their yacht.

Health and security officials kept the men in custody and arraigned them before a judge at the St. Joseph Magistrate Court. They pleaded guilty to illegal entry and were fined $1,000 each. They paid the fine and were then escorted back to their yacht, from where the coast guard escorted them out of Dominican waters.   

Health officials took in the proprietor and employee of the restaurant where the men had dinner to a government facility for quarantining in case of COVID-19 infection.

In a related development, police authorities arrested nine men on January 28 for illegal entry into the country. The men were intercepted in a vessel off the Wesley/Marigot coast after they attempted to evade policemen patrolling the waters. According to Police Chief Lincoln Corbette, the occupants of the open keel vessel shot at the police and there was an exchange of gunfire before the men fled in their boat.

The police gave a hot chase and arrested the men at the beach in Marigot after they abandoned their vessel and tried to flee inland. A search of the vessel yielded a large cache of 12 gauge ammunition and an undisclosed amount of money. The boat, ammunitions, and cash were seized by police authorities. Seven people were arrested in the boat, including one Haitian citizen, and two other persons were arrested on land in connection with the crime. The men are currently being held in Roseau and Portsmouth.

Two individuals were arrested on the beach. One appeared to have sustained a gunshot injury to his face. The boat was seized and was taken to the marine unit at Woodbridge Bay in Roseau where it is being processed. Ongoing investigations into the same incident led to the arrest of one individual in Roseau who appeared to have sustained multiple gunshot injuries to his face, mouth and left hand.

Lincoln Corbette, Police Chief

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