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A Colombian national who was caught coming into Canada at the Halifax airport in September with a forged Mexican passport has been handed an 18-month sentence.

Luis Eduardo Marin Suarez, 47, pleaded guilty in Dartmouth provincial court Dec. 17 to three charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and a Criminal Code charge of using a forged passport.

Marin Suarez was sentenced Thursday by Judge Dan MacRury, who said the courts can’t let anyone ruin “the good immigration system we have in this country.”

“Mr. Suarez’s actions were an attempt to undermine the security and integrity of our borders,” MacRury said.

“A strong message has to be (sent) to Mr. Suarez and like-minded individuals. If you enter this country with a fraudulent passport, you will receive a substantial jail sentence.”

According to an agreed statement of facts, Marin Suarez was detained at Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Sept. 1 after arriving on a Condor flight from Frankfurt, Germany.

He was using a Mexican passport that had his photo but was in the name of Juan Alberto Mendoz Gomez. He had been deemed suspicious when he boarded the flight in Frankfurt, but an initial verification of the passport revealed no abnormalities.



While the flight was in the air, the investigation continued, and it was determined through Interpol that the passport has been reported as lost or stolen.

Marin Suarez had used that passport July 30 to get an electronic travel authorization. In that application, he stated he had never been refused a visa or permit, denied entry or ordered to leave Canada or any other country. He also said he had never been arrested for, charged with or convicted of a criminal offence.

After he was referred for a secondary immigration examination at the Halifax airport, he indicated he had been travelling in Europe alone and was coming to Halifax for three days as a tourist. He had information about Peggys Cove and the Harbour Hopper.

Marin Suarez said he had obtained the passport in Mexico City at the passport office. He also provided an international driver’s licence from Mexico with the assumed identity.

When informed by a Canada Border Services Agency officer that the passport had been flagged as stolen, Marin Suarez said there must have been a mistake. He was then fingerprinted and his prints were linked to the name John William Acuna Cespedes of Colombia, who was wanted on a Canada-wide immigration warrant from 1998.

Marin Suarez was then arrested on the immigration warrant. While the border officer was trying to contact duty counsel, Marin Suarez said he wanted to make a refugee claim. After speaking with duty counsel, he revealed his true identity.

Further investigation over the next five weeks determined that Marin Suarez had crossed the border from the United States into Canada in the back of a tractor-trailer in November 1997. A few days later, he was arrested after stealing a woman’s purse at a restaurant in Toronto. He was convicted of theft under $5,000 as Acuna Cespedes and served a 10-day jail sentence.

He was then released from custody and scheduled to have an immigration admissibility inquiry in February 1998, but absconded and did not appear for the hearing.

His fingerprints also revealed that he, under other aliases, has convictions for burglary and theft in Maryland in 1996, for obstructing a public officer in California in 1999, and for possessing stolen property and obstructing a public officer in California in 2000.

Marin Suarez has used nine aliases, six birthdates and four birthplaces in his dealings with law enforcement in the U.S.

Because of his burglary conviction, his recent refugee claim in Canada was suspended pending a determination of his admissibility by immigration officials. On Oct. 8, he was found inadmissible to Canada due to serious criminality committed abroad and was issued a deportation order.

A forensic analysis of the Mexican passport Marin Suarez was carrying showed the underlying document was genuine but the biographical data page had been substituted. The laminate covering the page came from a series of passport laminates that were stolen in Mexico in 2017.

Crown attorney Scott Millar pointed out that two other Colombian nationals with fake Mexican passports were arrested at the Halifax airport in late September after arriving on another Condor flight from Frankfurt. The laminates on those passports were from the same series as the laminate on the passport used by Marin Suarez.

Millar requested two years in prison for Marin Suarez, while defence lawyer Christine Cooper said the sentence should be in the range of four to eight months.

In his decision Thursday, MacRury said the facts about the arrest of the other two men were not relevant at this sentencing.

The judge said Marin Suarez’s record demonstrates he is a “professional fraudster.” He said he was satisfied that the offender’s actions warranted a sentence at the higher end of the appropriate range, which he said was between four months and two years.

MacRury deducted 186 days from the 18-month sentence as remand credit, leaving Marin Suarez with 354 days, or just under a year, to serve.

“This was a planned and sophisticated operation by the defendant,” the judge said. “Unfortunately, he didn’t go to all this trouble for a visit on the Harbour Hopper or a trip to Peggys Cove. And this is the second time he has illegally entered this country.”