By NAN Contributor
News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Weds. Oct. 3, 2018: The 22-year-old Caribbean national who allegedly tried to steal an American Airlines Airbus 321 at the Orlando Melbourne International Airport on Thursday, September 20th, is back in his native land as of today, Oct. 3, 2018.
Trinidad and Tobago national Nishal Sankat, the son of Belize University President and former UWI principal, Professor Clement Sankat, was deported after prosecutors dropped charges of trespassing and grand theft against him.
Sankat, a former Florida Institute of Technology student, had pleaded guilty to attempted unarmed burglary of an occupied aircraft, grand theft and trespassing on airport property.
Prosecutors this week dropped the charges after Sankat made a plea deal with US authorities, which included his self-deportation to Trinidad and Tobago.
Prosecutors also placed him on a US “no-fly” list and barred him from returning to the United States. Hewas also ordered to pay $909 to cover the cost of the Melbourne Airport Police Department investigation.
T&T law enforcement authorities, including the Immigration Division and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, received Sankat on his arrival in Trinidad and he was later released to his parents.
Sankat had been attending Florida Tech since 2014 and recently petitioned to graduate in 2019, according to university officials. He’s been studying aviation management on a part-time basis and has taken part in some flight training in the past.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Sankat received his commercial pilot’s certification in January and was qualified to fly multi-engine aircraft and was instrument rated.
His family has claimed he suffers from depression.
