THE list of persons allegedly killed by confessed drug trafficker Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan and drawn up by Opposition leader Robert Corbin has grown to 455 from around 200.

Mr. Corbin on Monday handed over to the police a list of 455 names after they asked him to provide the names of those he claimed were killed under Khan who was jailed for 15 years last month in New York for drug running in the United States.

Corbin’s list is of unsolved murders committed between March 1993 to July 2009 and he told reporters it is up to the police to determine who were allegedly killed by Khan.

Corbin said the Police visited his office on October 23 and requested a copy of the list of persons allegedly killed by Khan.

An official yesterday wondered at the more than twice the expansion of the size of the list submitted by Corbin, also leader of the main Opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).

“He at first claimed 200 were killed by Khan; now he’s saying it’s 455. What’s really happening here?”, the official queried.

In a cover letter he presented to the police, Corbin argued that any investigation/inquiry into the atrocities committed over several years in Guyana “resulting in the deaths of over 400 persons, allegedly by a ‘phantom squad’ headed by Roger Khan in collaboration with elements of the Guyana Police Force, and sanctioned by senior government officials, ought to be conducted by an international body”.

The Police Force in mid-October, just after Khan’s sentencing, set up a special investigative team to “enquire into the alleged murders which surfaced during the court hearing for drug dealer Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.”

“The Government had made it clear that the Guyana Police Force is the agency that is legally responsible for investigating any allegation made against Khan or any other person or persons; we still maintain that position,” Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said in a statement Monday.
He said the government is committed to pursuing anyone engaged in any criminal activity, including drug trafficking and money laundering.