Indian ‘tourists’ declared prohibited immigrants |22 February 2014

Two men of Indian origin who arrived in the country recently as tourists have been deported for having breached their visitor’s permit to Seychelles and having made false declarations.

According to a communiqué from the Ministry of Home Affairs & Transport, the men, who were staying at La Misère, were providing paid services as ‘mystics’.

The communiqué said that, acting on information received, the Department of Immigration conducted an official visit on Tuesday this week to the house where the men were staying to investigate the matter.

The communiqué said that the immigration department had taken note, along with other information received, of certain advertisements appearing in certain Seychelles newspapers, offering for a price services such as speaking to ‘holy spirits’, reading palms, telling the future, among other claims.

Upon meeting the two men and after gathering evidence, such as posters offering their services which had been affixed to electricity poles on the public road, posters and other paraphernalia within a room, a notebook with detailed records of visitors and money received, as well as observing several Seychelles nationals waiting for the men’s services within the premises of the ‘mystics’, the immigration officers escorted the two men to the offices of the immigration department for further interview.

The two men, having been in breach of their visitor’s permit to Seychelles and having made false declarations, were deported from Seychelles the following day on a flight bound for their country of origin.  

Upon departure, they were declared prohibited immigrants to Seychelles, meaning they will not be able to return to the country in the future.