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| Shaheed "Roger" Khan | |
New York, USA, July 3, 2006 - Guyana's infamous alleged criminal was Friday arraigned at the Brooklyn Federal Court here in New York hours after he was expelled from Suriname and escorted by US agents here.
Shaheed `Roger' Khan, who was in April indicted in the same court for conspiracy to import five or more kilograms of cocaine into the United States between January 2001, and March 2006, appeared yesterday morning before Judge Roanne Mann to face the charge. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded without bail to the Metropolitan Detention Centre in downtown Brooklyn.
He is set to reappear before Judge Dora Lizzette Irizarry on August 4. Khan, also known as "Short Man," is being represented by Miami-based attorney John E. Bergendahl. He has moved to dismiss the indictment filed against Khan.
Khan also faces a 1993 firearms and drug possession charge in Vermont and is considered a fugitive from justice there. He became Guyana's most wanted man in March after the military reported the disappearance of 30 AK-47 rifles from an depot at army headquarters.
Raids by police and soldiers at businesses and homes controlled by Khan yielded small amounts of cocaine and illegal weapons. Khan denied having anything to do with the missing weapons.
Khan who boasted of his close association with the Bharrat Jagdeo administration in press releases while in hiding, fled to Suriname where he was arrested on June 15th with three ex Guyanese policemen bodyguards and held until his expulsion from Suriname at daybreak on Thursday.
After his arrest, Suriname's Justice Minister Chan Santokhi said in Paramaribo that Guyanese and Surinamese police, along with US federal agents, had broken up a major international ring that smuggled tons of cocaine from Colombia through air drops in Guyana, then by road or river to Suriname for export to Europe and the US.
Khan was named as a major drug trafficker by the US in its annual narcotics country report published in March. He owns businesses ranging from discos, to housing developments and carpet cleaners and admitted in press releases to helping authorities wipe out criminal gangs that had been roaming the country in 2002-03 using "my will and own resources." (Hardbeatnews.com)
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