Cameroonian who smuggled compatriots under guise of fake handball team expelled
ZH: Expulsion for fake Cameroon national handball coach
Keystone-SDA
A man who posed as the coach of Cameroon's national handball team has been given a two year suspended sentence and barred from Switzerland for six years.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Italiano
it
ZH: espulsione per finto coach nazionale pallamano del Camerun
Original
The Cameroonian national had arrived in January at Zurich airport along with 19 compatriots without visas. Upon arrival, the 45-year-old declared that he was traveling with his team to participate in the African Cup of Nations in Egypt.
All false, according to prosecutors. The man acknowledged the charges and the penalty demands and was therefore tried today by the District Court of Bülach in canton Zurich under the fast-track procedure.
The Cameroonian national was found guilty of qualified promotion of illegal entry and stay. The man, who has been in preventive detention since his arrival in Switzerland, will now be released and handed over to the Immigration Office, which will handle deportation.
Of the 19 Cameroonians who arrived with him in Switzerland, 17 later traveled to France to live a clandestine existence. Two remained in Switzerland, applied for asylum and in turn became untraceable.
The defendant said in court that he received 2,500 euros for his service. The man, a sports teacher, is actually employed by the Cameroonian handball association.
“We are in the realm of highly professional migration crime,” the single judge said in presenting the ruling. Real passports were used and many efforts were made to make the group look like a real national handball team. “In light of the confession, however, a two-year sentence seems appropriate,” the judge added.
In addition to the suspended sentence and expulsion from Switzerland, the sentence also includes the confiscation of 22 passports. These will be handed over to the cantonal police, who will use them to train officers at the document examination center.
Translated from Italian by DeepL/ac
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Swiss parliament calls for deeper EU security cooperation
This content was published on
The House of Representatives has called on the Swiss government to take a more proactive approach to European security policy.
Switzerland has no US-style fentanyl problem, says health minister
This content was published on
There is very little chance of a US-sized fentanyl epidemic in Switzerland, says health minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
This content was published on
Two fish species recently discovered in Switzerland have been called fluvicola and ommata, following an appeal to the public for names.
Convicted ex-shipowner achieves partial success in Swiss court
This content was published on
The Federal Supreme Court orders lower court to reassess part of its verdict against former Swiss shipowner Hans-Jürg Grunder.
This content was published on
A Swiss moratorium on the genetic engineering of plants, which expires at the end of 2025, could be extended for five years.
SWISS airline achieves second-best profit in history
This content was published on
Revenues soared for Swiss International Air Lines in 2024, contributing to the second-largest profit in the company's history.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.