The government of Guyana has indicated that it is officially seeking information from the governments of the United States, Suriname and Trinidad over whether Shaheed Roger Khan, the businessman and alleged drug trafficker now facing drugs charges in a U.S. court, was kidnapped from a Trinidad airport while on his way back to Guyana.
Khan had been deported from Suriname in June after having earlier being arrested on drugs and arms charges; he had faced similar charges in Guyana before fleeing to Suriname. Meanwhile, his attorney’s have failed in a court bid to get Surinamese authorities to reverse his expulsion order and be returned. The Guyanese government, I suspect, will have about as much success.
The story so far:
* Shaheed Roger Khan, a businessman and widely suspected drug trafficker, is linked to the disappearance of assault rifles from a Guyanese military base in March; he denies the charges. Raids of his businesses and properties unearth some cocaine and illegal weapons. Khan subsequently disappears.
* Khan is indicted in a Brooklyn court in April for conspiracy to import five or more kilograms of cocaine into the U.S between January 2001 and March 2006. The previous month he had been named as a major drug trafficker in the US government’s annual narcotics report.
* Khan is arrested in Suriname in June, along with three former policemen, after authorities netted over 200 kilograms of cocaine and some weapons and ammunition in a raid. He is then accused by the Surinamese Justice Minister of planning and ordering the assassination of prominent Surinamese public officials.
* The US government makes a formal request to the Surinamese government to start proceedings for his possible extradition on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine, even though they don’t have a binding extradition treaty.
* It is revealed that Khan has an outstanding warrant from the U.S. dating back to 1993 from his time as a student in Vermont. He had been charged with dealing drugs and guns, following two prior felony convictions in Maryland. He fled to Guyana while on pre-trial bail.
* The Guyanese government says it has no intention of extraditing him to the U.S. and that they have no evidence he ran a death squad in their country. Khan had in the past boasted about his close association with the current Guyanese administration.
* At the end of June, Surinamese authorities drop the drugs and weapon charges against Khan and deport him because he was in the country illegally.
* Khan lands up in Trinidad on his way back home and is reportedly arrested at the airport because of an international arrest warrant out for him. He is later transferred to the custody of U.S. officials and sent to Brooklyn, New York via Miami.
* He is arraigned in the Brooklyn Federal Court at the end of June and pleads not guilty. He is set to appear again in court in the first week of August.
* The Trinidad Express alleges the 35-year-old was drugged by U.S. officials in his Surinamese jail cell, placed on the plane to Trinidad and then onto Miami. They also allege that Surinamese officials had the goods on Khan but then “suddenly” deemed him an “illegal visitor” - i.e. the U.S. applied pressure for his release - contrary to claims by the Surinamese government that his deportation was in accordance with the law.
* Khan’s lawyers then allege that he was abducted from Trinidad without an official extradition order. The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Guyana denies the charges, stating that there was an international arrest warrant out for him. His lawyers also alleged he was beaten and tortured while in Suriname. Officials there deny the charges.
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