HAVANA, (AFP) – A Cuban court sentenced seven teachers and education workers to between 18 months and eight years in prison for selling university entrance exams, the official newspaper Granma said Tuesday.

A printing office employee was found to have stolen the exams in June and then sold them to others for $180.

Copies were then resold for $40 to $50 to students and teachers, who used them to conduct paid review sessions with students.

University education is free in Cuba, but applicants must pass a rigorous entrance exam.

“The court found that these acts constituted crimes of theft, of revealing tests used to evaluate students, and of illicit economic activities contained in the Criminal Code,” Granma said.

The trafficking in stolen exams “shows the loss of ethical values and are an attack on the integrity of our educational system,” Granma said, citing the court.

Besides imposing prison sentences, the court banned the defendants from working as educators and ordered them to pay damages to the Ministry of Higher Education and the University of Havana.