– says enough evidence available to lay charges of murder, drug trafficking

OUTRAGED that convicted drug lord, Shaheed “Roger” Khan, was not charged upon arrival in Guyana for the atrocities committed here, the ‘Mourning Families and Friends in White’ are calling on the Guyana Police Force to ensure that there is no stone left unturned in their investigations.

The notorious drug lord was deported to Guyana on Friday, after spending more than eight years in a US detention facility for drug trafficking. Upon his arrival, he was immediately taken into custody for the murder of Political Activist, Ronald Waddell, and former boxing coach, Donald Allison, but the Mourning Families and Friends in White believe that the police should have pressed immediate charges. “As far as I am concerned, and the group, soon as he got off the plane, he should have been arrested and charged for the atrocities that he fled from in this country,” Chairperson of the Mourning Families and Friends in White Committee, Catherine Penda Guyan, told the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday.

Last July, the committee had handed over a petition to President David Granger calling for an investigation to be launched into “the State-sponsored Right Wing Death Squad murders” that occurred under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration led by Bharrat Jagdeo. Khan was allegedly the Leader of the ‘Phantom Squad.’

Sister Guyan told the Guyana Chronicle that not only was Khan a fugitive, but he was fingered in the murders of Waddell, Allison and many others. In support of her statement, the rights activist alluded to the fact that in April, 2006, the Guyana Police Force, led by Winston Felix, the then Commissioner of Police, issued wanted bulletins for Khan, Paul Rodrigues, Ricardo Rodrigues and Gerald Pereira. They were wanted for a string of criminal activities including the trafficking of drugs and ammunition. Refusing to turn himself in, the drug lord fled to Suriname where he was arrested along with three of his bodyguards in a sting operation. Instead of being deported to Guyana, then Minister of Justice of Suriname, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, ordered that Khan be flown to Trinidad. Upon arrival at the airport in Trinidad, Khan was handed over to immigration authorities who then handed him over to US officials.

FULL FORCE OF THE LAW
Now that he has been deported to Guyana, the rights activist said that Khan should face the full force of the law. “Now, the minute you have a wanted bulletin out for someone, except that bulletin had been withdrawn, you are still a fugitive. So the minute he gets here, he should also be charged for that,” Sister Guyan argued.

Rubbishing contentions by Khan’s Attorney, Glen Hanoman, that there is no evidence against his client, the rights activist alluded to the fact that US informant, Selwyn Vaughn, who had infiltrated Khan’s group, had testified in a US Court that the drug lord had ordered the killings of Waddell and Allison. “It was Roger Khan himself, who at one point, took out advertisements in the paper, stating that he is working directly with the government, and he is assisting them in the fight on crime. So there is no if’s and buts, the evidence is there,” she told this newspaper.

Sister Guyan, who was backed by the members of the Mourning Families and Friends in White, said the Guyana Police Force should waste no time in having Khan brought to justice. The first step, she emphasised, is to charge him for murder and drug trafficking. “I am saying that he needs to be locked up and charged for the murders that he was involved in, and there are so many more that he is involved in. He was the leader; he was the person that was heading that phantom squad. He was the head, and therefore he is directly responsible,” Sister Penda contended.

According to her, it is “ridiculous” that despite the glaring evidence, Khan is being questioned when he should be charged. “This is what is ridiculous, why you are saying that you are questioning him, on arrival here, he should have been charged,” she iterated.

FAMILIES STILL GRIEVING
Families of those who were killed at the hands of Khan and his Phantom Squad are still grieving, she said, noting that only justice will give them closure. “Now it is very painful, it is very painful for you as a family or friend of a loved one, who has been executed or went missing to sit down every day and see some of the persons in your mind who have been the architects in these atrocities and they are still going along their lives like nothing has happened,” Sister Penda related.

“It is very painful, so I think that something has to be done, and we are not going to stop until we see that justice has been given to our families and friends for the atrocities that have occurred,” she pledged.

It is the Mourning Families and Friends in White’s greatest fear that Khan would be allowed to walk when there is more than sufficient evidence against him for murder. “The fear is, if we do not insist that this man be locked up and tried for his crimes that he is going to walk free and they are going to do the same thing all over again,” she explained.

Ingrid Worrell, another member of the Mourning Families and Friends in White, said Khan is a self-confessed criminal, who should be brought to justice. “All that we want is for him to be charged and justice to be served because a lot of persons don’t have closure,” Worrell said. Worrell is of the strong belief that some elements linked to Khan remain in the hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force and they too should be brought to justice.

Dr. Rudi Guyan, like Sister Guyan, told this newspaper that because the ‘Wanted Bulletin’ was not recalled, it remains in effect and Khan should be therefore charged for the crimes he was wanted for, in addition to the 2006 revelation that he ordered the deaths of Waddell and Allison. “I would like to know what was the outcome of that (bulletin) because it was never withdrawn, and if it was never withdrawn, then it still holds,” Dr. Guyan said.
Khan was said to have close ties to the then, People’s Progressive Party/Civic, with the late ex-Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj, acting as conduit for a “Phantom Squad”. The squad was accused to murdering several criminals, competitors, and others.

Although the PPP government had sought to distance itself from Khan, the drug-trafficker had stated publicly in an advertisement in local newspapers that he had been fighting crime on behalf of the Bharrat Jagdeo-led government. He had also implicated former Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, in his escapades, and documents bearing the then minister’s signature authorising the purchase of a sophisticated wire-tapping device were produced in U.S. courts during Khan’s trial. While Khan has completed his jail term in the US, Rights Activist and Social Commentator, Barrington Braithwaite, in a prior interview, told the Guyana Chronicle that the convict should be charged and sentenced for the crimes committed here. “What he served a sentence for in America was for selling drugs to America, what he did here has to be dealt with here,” Braithwaite told this newspaper. He was keen on noting that Khan is not the only one responsible, emphasising that many of the intellectual authorities and hitmen are still alive, simply ‘clothes in different garments.’