Former President, Janet Jagan has condemned the manner in which businessman Roger Khan was captured by the US government, saying that the Guyanese was grabbed in Suriname and whisked to Trinidad where a conveniently located special airplane awaited him and then flown to the United States of America.

               Businessman Roger Khan

She also chided the Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago governments, while lashing out at the world superpower, which she said seems impervious to criticisms and continues to do as it pleases particularly in the sphere of prisoners.

Mrs Jagan, a pre-independence Home Affairs Minister and also the widow of President Cheddi Jagan in her column in the Weekend Mirror, said that whatever has been said or written about Khan should not overlook one important factor "his rights as a citizen of the country in which he was born - Guyana". "He has yet to be convicted of any crimes he is alleged to have committed in Guyana, Suriname or the USA and even if he were he still has certain basic rights that any citizen of Guyana should enjoy," Mrs Jagan wrote in her column under the caption 'The stench of the rendition of Roger Khan'

Her comments came in the wake of clarifications by US Ambassador to Guyana, Roland Bullen who told Stabroek News in an interview that Khan was not abducted or rendered, but rather an extradition request was made to Trinidad and Tobago from where he was taken after being deported from Suriname two Thursdays ago.

Khan is currently before a New York court charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into that country. Bullen, born in Grenada, in an interview with this newspaper said that the drug-accused businessman was extradited by the Trinidad and Tobago authorities, not abducted and that rendition was not used by US officials in taking him into custody.

According to the US envoy Khan was taken into US custody based on a provisional arrest warrant and an extradition request made to the T&T government after he was refused entry to T&T and was in effect a "stateless" person.

Attorney for Khan, Glenn Hanoman doubted that a provisional arrest warrant existed at the time Khan was taken in T&T. He said that there are certain formalities, which should precede extradition and one of those things is a judicial hearing. Hanoman said no such hearing took place in T&T before Khan was arrested by US Drug Enforcement Administration officials. He remarked that if the US Ambassador believes that the manner in which Khan was taken to the US is how extradition is usually done then citizens of the Caribbean are in serious trouble.

Bullen said that one of the things that people are not aware of is that once Khan was indicted in the USA there was an Interpol warrant for his arrest.

According to the ambassador after Khan was arrested in Suriname, a provisional arrest warrant was issued and an extradition request made to the Surinamese authorities. He said a similar arrest warrant and extradition request was lodged with the T&T government. "When he was deported from Suriname, accompanied by Suriname law enforcement agents and when he was denied entry to Trinidad, given the arrest warrant we had for him and the extradition request made to Trinidad," he was then taken into US custody.

The US-born Mrs Jagan noted that Khan voluntarily entered Suriname illegally and was subsequently arrested and held in prison without bail. She said that the public was informed that he was involved in serious crimes concerning drug trafficking and a conspiracy to murder prominent Surinamese nationals. "So grave were the crimes he was alleged to have committed that the Guyana government let it be known that these were far more serious that those charges awaiting him in Guyana and thus the Guyana government would not ask for his deportation," she wrote.

She added that there are three countries guilty of grave offences in the saga: the USA, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Mrs Jagan said the Surinamese had really only one choice, outside of playing a stooge to the USA, and that was to inform police at Springlands that they were deporting Khan back from where he came illegally as they had no charges against him. She said the local police would have taken Khan under tight security to Georgetown where he would have been charged and taken before the courts. Mrs Jagan, who is said to still wield significant influence in the ruling PPP/C, said the USA could have then presented the government with the information needed to extradite Khan, which would probably have been decided in courts.

Further, Mrs Jagan said that Trinidad and Tobago is guilty of grave misconduct. Upon receiving Khan who would have had no legal documents to land in the island, she said that T&T should have held him and informed Guyana police who then would have sent officers to the country to escort the businessman back home. Instead, Jagan wrote, "Khan was hijacked, whether drugged or not- we do not know for certain - and thrown into a conveniently located special airplane at Trinidad Airport and flown to the USA."

Hanoman had told this newspaper that his client had said that he was drugged and taken out of the Santo Boma Prison in Suriname by DEA officials.

Bullen said however that there was no US DEA official present and it was a totally Surinamese operation.

Hanoman said that Khan recognized a DEA official who accompanied him on the flight to Trinidad. "Certainly, our law enforcement people were in touch. They work cooperatively with their counterparts in other countries," Bullen explained. He said rendition for Khan's removal would have meant Guyana agreeing to it, "I have no evidence that Guyana was involved in the process of removing Roger Khan. In effect when he entered T&T he was refused entry. He was a stateless person. If Roger Khan was arrested in Guyana, we would have sought his extradition," he said.

Meanwhile, Hanoman said that there has been no development in the case of Khan's three bodyguards, Paul Rodrigues, Sean Belfield and Lloyd Roberts. He said that the Surinamese authorities had received permission to extend the men's time in jail by 30 days. Hanoman believes that at the end of the 30 days the men would be deported as there is no charge against them.

"All they can do is to charge them for being in Suriname illegally, the lawyer said.

He said that of recent the three men have not complained of any ill treatment from the authorities in the Dutch-speaking state. On June 15, Khan and the three men were arrested in a huge drug bust which also ensnared nine Surinamese nationals. Khan was accused of being part of a criminal gang and also accused by Suriname Justice Minister, Chandrikapersad Santokhi of plotting to kill key government and judicial officials. All of the charges were however dropped to facilitate Khan's deportation.