A District Court judge in Samoa has urged that a Romanian she had just sent to jail for theft from ATM machines belonging to the Bank South Pacific be deported "as soon as he has served his time".
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Catalin Razvan faced 30 charges, included 10 counts of theft, 10 counts of accessing an electronic system without authority, and 10 counts of accessing an ATM system for dishonest purposes from 9 machines in Samoa.
The total amount stolen was US$1436, all from overseas accounts.
He was jailed for 7 months which will be reduced by the time he has spent in Police custody.
Bank authorities in Apia had acted after a tip off from branches in Tonga and Vanuatu where similar offences had occurred.
Talamua Online said that in passing sentence Judge Alalatoa said the amount stolen was not significant but the level of premeditation on Razvan's part was highly significant.