Small nabbed outside city jail

FIVE SECONDS after he was freed from the Port-of-Spain State Prison yesterday, Jamaat Al Muslimeen member Lance Small was re-arrested on a provisional warrant and taken to Police Headquarters to await an extradition hearing this morning. Small, also known as Olive Enyahooma-El, is wanted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on charges of conspiracy to possess firearms, contrary to the laws of the United States. The charges relate to an attempt on May 30, 2001 to import 60 AK-47 rifles and ten Mac-10 machine guns with silencers into Trinidad. On Tuesday, Justice Sebastien Ventour ordered that Small be freed, and that he be paid compensation for being detained illegally since the offences for which he was charged, were not extraditable at the time it was committed.

The judge gave the State 24 hours to appeal his ruling, failing which Small should be released from prison. But the State did not appeal Justice Ventour’s ruling. Instead, Attorney General John Jeremie yesterday withdrew the previous extradition request after discovering defects in the July 2001 Extradition Order signed by the then Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC. According to reports, the Extradition Order was never passed by the House of Representatives, and firearm offences were not included on the list of extraditable charges. However, the Parliament passed the amendment last week, including firearms offences, and making the legislation retroactive. Jeremie yesterday ordered Small’s re-arrest for extradition to the United States following a new extradition request received from US Attorney General John Ashcroft.

But Small’s release from prison turned out to be quite dramatic. The media was informed that Small was going to be released at 1.45 pm yesterday. Before that time, Sgt Williams, of Interpol, and members of the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) along with soldiers swooped down outside the prison on Frederick Street. Around 2.30 pm, the police blocked off Frederick Street near the Gordon Street intersection, preventing the flow of traffic south along Frederick Street. No one was allowed to even walk along Frederick Street as the policemen, armed with automatic weapons, became hostile even to media photographers. No one was allowed to stand anywhere near the entrance to the prison. Relatives waiting on the release of prisoners were ordered away from the main entrance. This delayed the release of prisoners, with some relatives complaining that everything was pushed back to today.

By that time, members of the Muslimeen had gathered on the scene. They included Anisa Abu Bakr, one of the wives of Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr, and Small’s wife. They were allowed into the prison with Small’s attorneys Ken Wright and Owen Hinds Jr. In the meantime, the contingent of policemen and soldiers remained outside while Small’s release was being arranged. Pedestrians who attempted to walk pass the jail, were stopped by policemen and ordered to “walk around the prison.” But not a word was heard from any of the policemen when a Catholic Nun casually walked past them on her way to the Living Waters building on upper Frederick Street. At exactly 4 pm, Small emerged from behind the prison walls. But his freedom was short-lived The new provisional warrant was executed on him. He was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a white car. Instead of driving down Frederick Street, the police took Small northwards and disappeared along Gordon Street.

Small was taken to the Interpol office at Police Headquarters where he remained last night. He will appear before Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court this morning to answer the charge. Neither Wright nor Hinds made any comment. When Small walked out of the prison gates, Muslimeen members shouted “Allah-U-Ackbar” several times. Small was indicted by a US Grand Jury on May 23, 2002 on charges of conspiracy to possess firearms. Another Trinidadian Keith Andre Glaude, who was arrested in a sting operation in Fort Lauderdale on May 30, 2001, pleaded guilty and was jailed for two years.