Trini gets off with just 3 years

Mohammed was sentenced earlier this week after he entered into a plea agreement with the United States Attorneys Office.

Mohammed agreed to cooperate with the US authorities and give evidence for the prosecution against co-accused Ronald Rackal and Indaryartee Dwarika, who are now in federal custody in Florida.

Mohammed was sentenced to three years by Judge James Cohn after his plea agreement was revealed to the court. Once he testifies, as promised, his three-year sentence will be further reduced, Newsday was told yesterday. Mohammed, formerly of Aranjuez, pleaded guilty in July to charges of conspiracy to import millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States in January 2001.

Rackal also pleaded guilty, but he did strike an agreement with the prosecution. His case is listed for October.

Mohammed and Rackal were escorted to Florida on May 5 by four US Marshals to face a total of five Grand Jury charges.

Mohammed and Rackal were charged with conspiring to traffic cocaine, and the importing and exporting of cocaine between November 30, 2000, and January 22, 2001.

They were arrested and charged with Jitman Sookdeo, 35, Ramesh Doon, 21, and Indaryartee Dwarika after they were allegedly found by members of the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit at a warehouse at Orange Field Road, Freeport, on January 22, 2001, with 509 kilos of cocaine stacked among cassava. The day before they were due to go on trial at the Port-of-Spain High Court in 2004, the five were arrested on a provisional warrant for extradition to the US.

Rackal, Mohammed and Dwarika were later ordered to be extradited by Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls, but Dwarika filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus challenging her extradition. However, Madame Justice Judith Jones dismissed the habeas corpus application on June 16. She was later escorted by two US Marshals to Florida. No date has yet been set for Dwarika’s trial.

Doon was set free in Trinidad, while Sookdeo absconded while on bail.