THE Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in Washington DC yesterday issued a world wide terror alert for a Saudi Arabian, believed to be in possession of a Trinidad and Tobago passport.

The FBI believe Adnan G El Shukrijumah is plotting terrorist attacks as part of al Qaeda, the terrorist group linked to the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC on September 11, 2001. The FBI is asking for help from law enforcement officials worldwide, including Trinidad and Tobago, in locating El Shukrijumah, who officials say may have been last seen in Miami before he disappeared. His current whereabouts are unknown. Preliminary investigations by intelligent officials show that El Shukrijumah may have travelled to Piarco International Airport and Timehri International Airport in Guyana in the recent past “to cool off” after he may have been suspected by US Marshals.

His last known address was 6124 SW 27th Street, Miramar, Florida. His date of birth was given as August 4, 1975 and he stands at five feet six inches tall. He was issued a driver’s permit on December 12, 1997 with the State of Florida — Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Stunned TT nationals looked on in amazement at the breaking news on CNN yesterday linking the Saudi national to Trinidad and Tobago. Police and immigration officials in Port-of-Spain were in the dark last night about this revelation, saying this was new to them. But the police, through Interpol, plan to step up the hunt locally for the Saudi national. Immigration officials plan to check their files today to see if anyone with a resemblance to the Saudi slipped into TT, or passed through in recent months.

Florida seems to be a main city for terrorist suspects after some of those involved in September 11 were training as pilots there. Two TT nationals have been jailed in Florida in the last two years having been somewhat linked to terror activities. Keith Glaude was sentenced to two years in Fort Lauderdale in late 2001 after pleading guilty to attempting to export guns to a member of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen in Trinidad. Although he pleaded guilty, he admitted he was set up by a friend. The second Trini was Shueyb Jokhan, formerly of St Joseph, who was jailed for four years in 2002 after he and a Pakistani plotted to blow up federal installations in Florida prior to the September 11 attacks.

According to the FBI, El Shukrijumah, although born in Saudi Arabia, carries a Guyana passport and could attempt to enter the United  States with a Saudi, Canadian, or Trinidad passport as well. He  has also gone by a half-dozen aliases. These aliases include Adman G El Shukri Jumah, Abu Arif, Ja’far Al-Tayer, Jaffar Al-Tayyar, Jafar Tayar and Jaafar Al-Tayyar. The FBI alert did not specify the nature of the threats El  Shukrijumah may pose to United States’ interests. One FBI official said El Shukrijumah only recently came to the agency’s attention, but the  official did not say how. The alert came as the FBI intensified its effort to interview thousands of Iraqi-born individuals living in the United States to uncover any potential terrorist attacks planned by Iraqi operatives or sympathisers and to protect them from any hate crimes.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift strenuously resisted the urging of reporters to make an outright condemnation of the US led war on Iraq. The strongest word the former diplomat was prepared to use yesterday was “unjustified”.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Gift said if one went back to the provisions of the UN system — where the weak(er) are supposed to be protected from the strong(er) — one would expect that the justification for any assault on any member of the United Nations should be fully debated and aired within that body. “And if that process were not complete, then there is every reason to believe that something unjust took place,” he said. Asked if he was saying that Trinidad and Tobago did not support the war, Gift said this country was “not sympathetic” to unilateral intervention. The Minister added that it seemed that the United Nations had failed on two counts. “It has failed in the objective of bringing nations together, and that failure is further compounded by its inability to have kept both nations apart,” he said.

At the conference Manning said while Trinidad and Tobago was not in a “heightened state of alert”, “greater vigilance was being exercised at this time”. Gift said the position of Trinidad and Tobago and indeed of Caricom was that the rules of the United Nations system should be adhered to. He said the majority opinion within the UN was that the matter was not sufficiently ventilated within the broad UN family. Asked about a diplomatic note from the US to Caribbean and other countries expressing displeasure at  their participation in a proposed meeting of the UN General Assembly to discuss military action, Gift said he had seen the note and there was no time to respond to it. “We were  overtaken by time, circumstances and events (so we didn’t reach that stage),” he said. He said while it was not a “threat in the sense of an ultimatum”, it certainly stated the UN preference not to have the matter debated.

On the visit of Energy Minister, Eric Williams to Washington, Manning said the United States had been concerned about its energy supplies and the security of those supplies. He said the National Security Council had met on its own as well as with the energy countries and there was a contingency plan to protect this country’s oil and energy installations. Manning, who had predicted an increase in revenues in the event of a war, said Government had taken no decision to put windfall profits into the Oil Stabilisation Fund.

THE Dhanraj Singh murder trial came to an abrupt and premature end yesterday when presiding judge, Justice Melville Baird, ordered the trial to be aborted, and for Singh to face a retrial before a new judge and jury at the next sitting of the Assizes. The trial was aborted after Justice Baird upheld a submission made by Singh’s lead defence attorney, Karl Hudson-Phillips QC.

The main reason to abort the case resulted from a ruling on an issue the judge delivered yesterday, when hearing resumed in the San Fernando First Assize Court. The judge’s ruling appeared to have impacted on decisions handed down last week as well as evidence already given by certain witnesses called by the State. The issue of pre-trial publicity was also cited as a ground for a new trial. While insisting he had no intention of muzzling the press, Justice Baird asked the media not to report the reasons for the aborted trial because of  potential prejudice at the re-trial. Another judge and jury now have to try Singh for the murder of Hansraj Sumairsingh, chairman of the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation. Sumairsingh was shot dead inside his beach house in Mayaro between December 30, 1999 and January 1, 2000.

After three appearances in the San Fernando High Court between September last year and January, the former Local Government Minister’s trial was fixed for February 17. It began with several hiccups, first with selection of a jury and maintaining stability of the panel of 12 members. Justice Baird was forced to dismiss two jurors after they were sworn in and the trial started. One knew the murder victim while the other lived close to Singh’s wife at Hardbar-gain, Williamsville. But just a week into the trial, the judge again was forced to replace a juror with an alternate, leaving only one remaining, of the three alternates chosen. The last juror who was replaced told the court that his wife knew the Sumairsinghs. A decision was also made to have the jury  sequestered at the Trinidad Hilton.

The case got underway on February 17, but for two weeks the jury remained sequestered due to prolonged and intensive legal submissions. Newly appointed International Criminal Court (ICC) Karl Hudson-Phillips QC, led a battery of attorneys defending Singh, who appeared in court on each day of the trial, dressed immaculately in two-piece dark coloured suits.  Justice Baird delivered four written rulings on legal submissions in relation to the case and held three enquiries in matters regarding the jury. Last week Monday, British QC Sir Timothy Cassel, who led the prosecution, opened the case with an eight-page speech to the jury. The State called 20 witnesses and on Wednesday star witness, Elliot Hypolite also known as “Abdullah”, took to the witness-box. Hypolite, who had been charged for Sumairsingh’s murder, received immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony against Singh. But prior to Hypolite’s being called to the witness box, both Hudson-Phillips and Cassel argued over the admissability of a certain piece of evidence – a letter. The judge reserved his ruling until yesterday morning.

Hypolite, who is being kept under police  guard, testified and was cross-examined for most of the day on Wednesday. Yesterday’s hearing was planned for Justice Baird to deliver his ruling, to be followed by Hypolite taking the witness box for further cross-examination. That did not happen as Justice Baird’s written decision resulted in Hudson-Phillips asking the judge for a ten-minute adjournment in order to hold discussions with Cassel. During those discussions, junior attorneys to Hudson-Phillips took written instructions from Singh sitting in the dock.

At the 10.05 am resumption of the hearing, Hudson-Phillips addressed the court with the jury still out of court and hearing. He made reference to instructions from his client and pre-trial publicity of the ‘letter’ in a weekly newspaper, which he added, defeated the effect of the judge’s ruling. “This is a serious matter, of serious consequences for the accused. And justice must not only be done but seen to be done,” Hudson-Phillips said. He then requested that in the circumstances of the Judge’s ruling, the trial be aborted and the accused tried de novo. Cassel told Justice Baird that he had no alternative but to agree with defence counsel. He did so, he said, after a telephone discussion with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson. Cassel then asked the judge not to fix the next hearing of the case in the near future, since he was expected to be engaged in a trial in the United Kingdom.

After adjourning briefly, Justice Baird said: “The application is granted. The trial is aborted and the accused is remanded in custody to be tried before another judge and jury.” Singh looked dejected and bowed his head in the dock as his wife Leela and his mother, Shiela Roopnarine, gazed intensely ahead in the packed courtroom gallery. Recalling the jury, Justice Baird, addressing the foreman, announced that having regard to a certain request, “it was necessary to stop the trial”. The judge thanked the jury for undergoing the period of sequestration, saying that he was not unaware of the difficulties they underwent and concerns they had. Justice Baird, on the request of Hudson-Phillips, fixed the case for next month’s Cause List where a judge will determine a date for the new trial.

As the judge rose and left the bench, members of the public gallery pushed themselves forward towards the dock as Singh was being led away by policemen. It took almost an hour for the courtroom to be cleared by marshals. The witness, Hypolite, who was escorted under heavily armed policemen to the nearby police station, was quickly whisked away in an unmarked vehicle. Singh’s mother, Roopnarine who tried to seek an explanation from attorneys about the outcome, commented: “Well, I glad it happened that way. I know he is innocent. They could stay as long as they want, I am staying with him right through.” Singh’s father, Roopnarine (Singh), said: “Well, as you see what happen. I going down with him right through. It costing me money, but I sticking with him.”

IN THE KUWAITI DESERT (AP) — US and British ground troops crossed into southern Iraq from Kuwait on Thursday in a gradual escalation of the war to drive Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power.

Iraqi missiles fell harmlessly in Kuwait. Half a world away from the war theatre, US intelligence officials sought to determine whether the Iraqi leader had been  killed hours earlier in a pre-dawn attack by cruise missiles and  precision-guided bombs. Iraq’s state-run television denied it and said Saddam had met with aides during the day.  Either way, said US Defense Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld,  “The days of the Saddam Hussein regime are numbered.” He called on Iraqi leaders to surrender — and said the alternative was an attack “of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond what has been seen before.”

Iraq sent its missiles toward Kuwait in retaliation for the pre-dawn attack against Saddam.  In the Kuwaiti desert, officials said none of the Iraqi missiles caused injuries, and one was intercepted by a Patriot missile. Thousands of American and British troops donned  protective gear, but there was no evidence the missiles carried chemical or biological weapons. The onset of war sparked large anti-war demonstrations at US embassies around the world, and the State Department warned US citizens abroad of an increased danger of terrorism.

In Washington, protesters briefly blocked one of the Potomac River bridges carrying traffic into the capital. Outside the White House, demonstrators shouted “no blood for oil.” Despite continued opposition overseas, including criticism from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush said 40 nations backed the American-led effort to topple Saddam. Turkey, which borders Iraq to the north, approved a limited form of cooperation during the day.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iraq said Thursday it will ask the UN Security Council to respond to the US-led war against the country, calling it an illegal act of aggression by a “terrorist  state.”

Iraq also demanded that the United States be held accountable before international tribunals — including the International Criminal Court which the Bush administration vehemently opposes — for trying to assassinate Saddam Hussein in the first hours of the war. “Yesterday, the United States acted as a terrorist state by attempting to assassinate the leadership of a member state of the United Nations,” it said. In its first statement since military action began Wednesday night, Iraq’s UN Mission urged all countries to strongly condemn the war and people around the world to  demonstrate in the coming days against “colonialism, domination and imperialism.” Iraq accused US President George W Bush of using “a bunch of lies” in his declaration of war, saying he wants to free the Iraqi people “while it has been clear to all the world that he wants to free the Iraqi oil wells.”

Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri said he doesn’t know when he will ask for a Security Council meeting because he wants to discuss next steps with the government, the Arab League, the Non-Aligned Movement of 115 mainly developing countries, and other colleagues. He said his communications with Baghdad “are disturbed completely” and he is still waiting for a letter from Foreign Minister Naji Sabri to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He said it will brand the onset of US — led military action “a violation of international law.”

BAGHDAD, March 20 (Reuters) — US cruise missiles slammed into President Saddam Hussein’s main Baghdad palace on Thursday night during an attack that set buildings ablaze in the city and caused massive explosions.

Missiles flew in at low altitude and hit a string of targets across the Iraqi capital in a second wave of missile attacks after a dawn raid, Reuters witnesses said. About 500 km (300 miles) to the southeast, US and British units crossed the border into Iraq from Kuwait at the start of an invasion that Washington says will topple Saddam. The missiles hit Saddam’s main sprawling palace complex on the banks of the Tigris in central Baghdad. Iraqi radio said no one was hurt in a separate attack early on Thursday when missiles hit a family home of Saddam.

Fires broke out around the planning ministry in the centre of Baghdad and other blazes could be seen in the southeast of the city. Fire fighters and ambulances were at the scene. One of the buildings housed an office of Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz. Sirens sounded an all-clear shortly before 2100 GMT. The whole western bank of the Tigris river which cuts through the city was shrouded in smoke. Several government ministries are located on the west bank. To the east of the city there were several explosions in the vicinity of the al Rashid military base. The blasts came shortly after air-raid sirens sounded in Baghdad and anti-aircraft fire lit up the night sky.

Witnesses said that the attack was more intense than previous strikes early on Thursday, which began Washington’s war against Iraq. In the dawn attack, the United States struck with cruise missiles and stealth aircraft in an opportunist hit aimed at killing Saddam and his entourage in Baghdad. The Iraqi government said one civilian died in the first raids and several others were injured. It said that the strikes hit empty buildings and civilian districts. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the dawn missile and bombing attacks in and around Baghdad were just a taste of what would soon be unleashed. Saddam appeared on television three hours after the first strikes on Baghdad, denouncing the “criminal, reckless little Bush.” He urged Iraqis to resist the coming US invasion and promised a historic victory.

IN WHAT has been described by police as a mafia-styled ‘hit’, two men reputed to be notorious drug-dealers were found shot to death in a house off Acono Road, Maracas/ St Joseph on Wednesday night.

While police said Dexter “Neckie” Mahase, 26, and Kerwin Romain, 29, had been involved in crime for many years, their weeping relatives claimed otherwise. “Oh God no, no, no…this can’t be happening. That is my son lying in there dead, they kill him,” cried Dexter’s mother,  Jankie Mahase, who was comforted by her other son Anthony. Nearby were Romain’s siblings who stood in a group crying. Police retrieved 21 spent shells and seven ammunition fragments at the scene. Mahase, who celebrated his birthday on March 6, was shot seven times about his leg, chest and stomach. His body was found lying on the living-room floor near the front door. Romain, who was found with his hands tied behind his back with a bedsheet and lying behind a couch, was shot ten times in the head, chest and stomach.

According to police reports, Mahase telephoned Romain on Wednesday evening and asked him to come to his home on Acono Road to “check out something”. Romain, who was deported from the United States and had been hiding out in Venezuela for some time, left his Brazil Village home accompanied by his girlfriend. On reaching Mahase’s home, Romain alighted from his B13 Sentra and told his companion to wait in the car. Minutes later, residents reported hearing loud explosions coming from inside the house. Two men later ran out of the house, ordered Romain’s girlfriend out of the car and sped off in it. Romain’s companion and villagers went into the house where they discovered the bodies. Officers led by Snr Supt Rodvan Bastien and including Insps Peter Grant and Michael Modeste, Sgt Hendron Moses (Homicide Bureau), Sgt Don Lezama, Cpl Aldwin Collins, Cpl Smith and PCs Nirmal Ramjattan, Nafeez Mohammed and Dedeire visited the scene.

DMO Dr Emmanuel Hosein ordered the bodies removed to the Port-of-Spain mortuary. Autopsies were scheduled to be done yesterday at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Police are working on the theory that the killers stormed into Mahase’s home and opened fire. Up to late yesterday no arrests had been made and Sgt Don Lezama of St Joseph CID is continuing investigations. These two murders, plus another at the Caroni cremation site in which a man was strangled on Wednesday night, have pushed the murder rate for the year to 47.