Rackal jailed for 21 years in Florida

Rackal, 38, of Chenette Drive, El Socorro, San Juan, was sentenced to 262 months by Judge James Cohn in the United States District Court in Fort Lauderdale last week.

Another Trinidadian, Hafeez Mohammed, 29, of Globe Lane, San Juan, who was also charged, was sentenced to 135 months (11 years and three months) in jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.

Rackal and Mohammed were extradited to the United States on May 5. Four US Marshals came to Trinidad and took the wanted Trinidadians to Florida to face 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.

Mohammed and Rackal were arrested and charged with Jitman Sookdeo, 36, Ramesh Doon, 22, Andre Ravi Persad, and Indaryartee Dwarika, 45, 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 542 kilos of cocaine stacked among cassava.

The day before they were due to go on trial at the Port-of-Spain High Court in November 2004, five of them (except Persad) 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, on June 16, Madame Justice Judith Jones dismissed the habeas corpus application, paving the way for Dwarika to be extradited.

Dwarika was later extradited to the US to face trial which is still pending.

Sookdeo absconded while on bail for the extradition hearing and has not been heard of since. A warrant has been issued for his arrest and Justice Anthony Carmona will hear the summons tomorrow where Sookdeo’s bailor will have to show cause why the $250,000 bail should not be forfeited.

Doon and Persad are still before Justice Carmona on the charge of trafficking the cocaine at Freeport.