‘AK-47 guns to kill people’

LANCE SMALL EXTRADITION HEARING

SENIOR COUNSEL Douglas Mendes said yesterday that Lance Small and Keith Andre Glaude were bringing AK-47 rifles and machine guns to endanger and kill the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Mendes said it was Glaude, on the instructions of Small, who went to Miami to collect the guns to send them to Trinidad. “Why would 60 AK-47s and ten machine guns be brought to Trinidad? They were going to endanger and kill the people of Trinidad and Tobago, going about their lawful business. This was no ordinary transaction. “Was he (Small) going to keep them, and for what purpose was this related to 1990?” Mendes asked.
  
“Glaude and Small were planning to bring these weapons into Trinidad and Tobago.” Mendes, who is representing the United States, objected to bail being granted to Small, also known as Olive Enyahooma-El, 69, of Gonzales. Small’s attorney Pamela Elder SC sought bail, but Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court, refused to grant bail to the Jamaat Al Muslimeen member. McNicolls pointed out that Small was convicted in the United States and played a major role in the July 1990 attempted coup. He said the charges for which Small was indicted were serious and if Small was granted bail, he might not surrender when the time comes. Small’s attorney plans to apply for bail before a Judge in Chambers tomorrow. Small is wanted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on three charges — conspiracy and possession of 60 AK-47 rifles, ten Mac-10 machine guns, and ten silencers between 2000 and 2001.

Mendes said Small admitted his role in the 1990 attempted coup when he sought clearance from the Immigration authorities to re-enter the United States. But the US immigration authorities turned down Small’s entry to that country. “He has admitted to an attempt to overthrowing the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. “The Police Headquarters building was bombed, the Parliament was taken over, the Prime Minister was held hostage, the Attorney General was shot, and a lot of people were killed. “Small has admitted to a conspiracy to commit treason, a conspiracy to kill, he has admitted that in the United States.” In her application for bail, Elder said it was dangerous to accept the evidence of an accomplice, in this case, Keith Glaude. But Mendes pointed out that accomplice witnesses have been accepted in this country. “Not only have people been convicted of murder on the evidence of accomplice witnesses, they have been executed in this country,” Mendes told the court.

Elder, in her bail application, asked the Chief Magistrate to consider the age of this case. She said that since 2001, the alleged offences received a lot of press coverage in this country. Elder described accomplice witnesses as scum and wholly unreliable. She said the US was planning to use a John Doe as a witness against Small. “This is a judicial invasion,” Elder added. Small faces a maximum of 25 years in jail and a total fine of US$750,000 if convicted in the Federal Court in Fort Lauder-dale. Glaude, his close friend, was jailed for two years in 2002 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to export guns to Trinidad. Small’s next court date is March 19.