Trini fugitives extradited to Miami

Very few people knew what was happening at the airport. It was only when heavily-armed plainclothes policemen took up strategic positions at the back of the airport, that the word spread that two more nationals were on their way to the United States to face criminal charges.

The extradition of Ronald Rackal, 39, and Hafeez Mohammed, 29, follow six months after Jamaat Al Muslimeen member Lance Small was whisked away to Miami to face gun running charges.

Rackal and Mohammed were escorted to Miami by three US Marshals and a DEA agent who came to Trinidad on Monday after the two fugitives indicated to Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls that they were willing to face their trial in Miami. They left Trinidad aboard American Airlines flight 1668.

Yesterday’s operation was coordinated by Senior Supt Raymond Craig, head of the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU).      

Members of the OCNU under ASPs Franklyn Edwards and Simon Alexis went to the Port-of-Spain State Prison around 11 am yesterday and took Rackal and Mohammed straight to the airport.

Three vehicles carrying the prisoners and the US law enforcement officers arrived at Piarco at 12.50 pm. The wanted men were taken to the back of the airport to await the flight. Waiting at the airport were attorneys for both men, Brian Dabideen and Ian Ibrahim, along with a handful of relatives.

Two relatives were allowed to say their final goodbyes to Rackal and Mohammed inside the terminal building, but the attorneys were not given permission to see the prisoners before boarding the aircraft. Ibrahim complained that he wanted to hand over legal documents to his client, but was not allowed to do so.

He said he was planning to visit his client at the prison yesterday morning, but was advised to go to the airport. "I have been here for two hours and I cannot get to see my client and hand over the legal documents," Ibrahim told Newsday.

Both prisoners were formally handed over to the US law enforcement officials who escorted them onto the aircraft which was packed with passengers.

Newsday learnt that Rackal and Mohammed arrived in Miami safely and were taken to the Miami Detention Centre awaiting their day in a Florida court.

They have already been indicted by the Grand Jury on several charges of conspiracy to import 281 kilos of cocaine into the United States during the period November 30, 2000, and January 22, 2001.

Rackal and Mohammed were among five persons who were arrested by members of the OCNU on January 22, 2001, at a warehouse at Orange Field Road, Carapichiama, after police allegedly found 542 kilos of cocaine hidden in cassava crates. That cocaine was valued at $300 million.

The others were Jitman Sookdeo, Ramesh Doon, and Indaryartee Dwarika. Doon and Dwarika are before the Chief Justice in their extradition matter, while Sookdeo has been reported missing. The five were arrested several months ago on provisional warrants for their extradition to the US. They were rounded up hours before they were due to go on trial before Justice Herbert Volney in the Port-of-Spain High Court on an indictment relating to the seizure of the 542 kilos in Carapichaima.

The trial never started and the extradition hearing took precedence.