Visitor Sentenced To 18 Weeks In Prison For Possession Of Credit Card Skimming Device At Airport

By Alric Lindsay

In the Summary Court today, July 22, 2026, Halid Yuksel Aptula, a Bulgarian national, pled guilty to the possession of equipment which can be used for credit card skimming.  He was sentenced to 18 weeks’ imprisonment.

As reported in our previous story, Aptula travelled from the Dominican Republic to Jamaica to the Cayman Islands on June 16, 2026.  He was stopped for a search by Customs and Border Control officers, who recovered a card reader, card holder and other devices.  CBC later X-rayed a speaker in his luggage and found additional devices concealed inside it.

A forensic expert’s statement, summarised by Crown Counsel for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, described the equipment as including a “credit card skimming device… designed to be illegally installed either on or inside ATM machines” and a “deep insert skimming device” for capturing card and PIN data, along with card readers and writers capable of copying data onto duplicate cards.

Arguing on his behalf, his attorney, Amelia Fosuhene, said that Aptula planned to do “some holiday type things” in the Cayman Islands and then leave. She added that Aptula “had no specific intention to utilise the equipment,” while accepting “he could have done that, should he have chosen.”

Passing sentence, the Chief Magistrate found the custody threshold passed, “noting the maximum sentence of four years,” and took a starting point of 36 weeks.

The Chief Magistrate found culpability high because the defendant “knew what the devices were for,” but assessed actual harm as absent, since the equipment was not used.

Regarding the risk of harm, the Chief Magistrate said the potential harm was high.

She also noted that Aptula had 18 previous convictions in Belize.

Notwithstanding the potential risk, the Chief Magistrate reduced the 36-week starting point by granting Aptula a 30% discount for his guilty plea and personal circumstances, noting that he was in a foreign country with a young child.

The resulting sentence was 18 weeks’ imprisonment on the single charge, with time already spent in custody to be taken into account.

The Chief Magistrate ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the seized items and confirmed Aptula’s right to appeal.