An investigation is being conducted into what Cayman Islands Immigration officials said was a foiled escape attempt by several Cubans at the Immigration Detention Centre in George Town.
Mr. Manderson |
Assistant Chief Immigration Officer Jeannie Lewis, who oversees the centre, said several men being held there awaiting repatriation were apparently stockpiling food and several prohibited items.
Ms Lewis said those included a hunting knife, screwdrivers, wrenches and other items that might have been used as weapons. The men were also in possession of a cell phone.
‘This supports all claims that the migrants were planning an escape,’ she said.
Chief Immigration Officer Franz Manderson said the migrants would not have been allowed to keep such items while at the detention centre, even if they had arrived on island with them.
‘That’s not something that they have access to at all,’ Mr. Manderson said. ‘(Those) would have been confiscated when they arrived.’
He declined to state whether the migrants got all the items from inside the facility, or if some came from the outside.
‘All of that is now being investigated as to how they actually got those, so I don’t want to speculate.’
On Thursday, 22 March several Cubans who immigration officials said were involved in the failed escape plot held a protest on detention centre grounds.
The men stood at the fence line of the property holding a cardboard box with a message written on it in toothpaste.
Immigration officials said they were upset about the confiscation of their items.
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