Lance Small extradited to the US

SECURITY was tight and there was a buzz around Piarco International Airport yesterday afternoon as two United States Marshals left with Jamaat Al Muslimeen member Lance Small who is wanted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on firearms charges. From the moment Small lost his habeas corpus application before Justice Rajendra Narine last Thursday, everything was put in place to have him extradited to face the charges in Florida. Attorney General John Jeremie signed the warrant on Monday for Small’s extradition and the US authorities were contacted. It was shortly after midday yesterday that Sgt Wendell Williams of the local Interpol branch went to the Maximum Security Prison at Arouca with the warrant for Small’s extradition. Security was extremely tight. Even prisoners and prison officers showed surprise on their faces when the entourage pulled up at the prison.

At 1.55 p m, four heavily-tinted green vans left the prison, one of them carrying Small. These vehicles were escorted by two jeeps from the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) with heavily-armed personnel, along with three other unmarked police cars with plainclothes officers. As they sped along Golden Grove Road, a national security helicopter hovered overhead to ensure there were no incidents along the short journey. The security details pulled into the airport five minutes later, carrying one of the most high-profile prisoners to ever leave these shores. Small, 70, also known as Olive Enyahooma-El, was booked on American Airlines flight 1668 at 3.47 p.m. Small was taken into a room until the flight was ready to depart. Security officers guarded the western end of the terminal building.

What was more surprising was when ten members of the GEB pulled up outside the terminal building and blocked pedestrians from walking on the pavement. People soon became curious wondering why the police were guarding an empty white vehicle. The AA flight coming from Miami landed at Piarco at 2.56 p.m and then everything was put in place for Small’s departure. Passengers were invited to board the aircraft around 3.30 pm. Small was then handed over to US Marshals in the terminal building. He was then escorted onto the aircraft where he sat between the two law enforcement officers in a very comfortable area. By that time, word spread around the airport that Small was leaving on a jet plane, not knowing when he will be back again. The flight eventually took off at 4.25 p.m. When contacted, AG Jeremie said his decision to return Small to the US followed an extradition request from US Attorney General John Ashcroft.

“The signing of the warrant is in keeping with Trinidad and Tobago’s extradition treaty signed with the United States on March 4, 1996 and is consistent with the decisions of the local courts, which gave the prisoner every opportunity to be heard.” Small’s attorney Pamela Elder SC said yesterday she received a letter from the Attorney General indicating that he had signed the warrant for extradition. She said she sent one of her juniors to see Small at the prison on Tuesday. On September 21, Senior Magistrate Joanne Connor, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court, ordered Small’s extradition to the United States. During the period April 17, 2000, and May 30, 2001, it is alleged that Small,  also known as “Fires,” conspired with persons known and unknown to possess firearms — 60 AK-47 rifles, ten MAC-10 machine guns and ten machine gun silencers. Small faces ten years in jail if he is convicted.