Barry Dataram has once again been taken into police custody after a provisional warrant was issued for his arrest for the purpose of extraditing him to the US.
This is the fourth time since late 2007 that a provisional warrant has been issued for Dataram’s arrest. Dataram, who is wanted by the US government for cocaine smuggling offences, was last released after a High Court ruling in December 2008.
Attorneys Glen Hanoman and Vic Puran have represented Dataram throughout his various arrests. Hanoman confirmed that Dataram was arrested yesterday. Hanoman said he was informed of this development shortly before 5 pm. Dataram, according to him, was being held at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary and it was high unlikely that he would be released on bail. “I was informed that a provisional warrant was issued for him [Dataram] for the purpose of extraditing him to the US.
This issue has already been decided at the highest level of our court and it is clear that in the present state of our law that there is an impediment to extradition from Guyana to the US. My contention is that if he is detained for that purpose then he is being unlawfully kept,” Hanoman told Stabroek News.
It all started for Dataram when his wife and then three-year-old daughter were kidnapped by two Venezuelans in December 2007. One of the Venezuelans was subsequently shot dead in a confrontation with the police. The kidnapping was reportedly drug-related and it was shortly after these events that Dataram was first taken into police custody.
Dataram was detained beyond the 72 hours that the law allows a person to be held in custody before being charged.
His lawyers subsequently approached the court with a habeas corpus writ but police asked for an extension to conclude their investigation into the kidnapping, which they said was drug-related. What followed was a series of court appearances during which Dataram was twice set free and rearrested.
He was finally set free in December, 2008. After Dataram was released, the state filed an appeal against the High Court ruling, which had exposed a lacuna in the extradition law.
Subsequently, government announced that it would modify the law, and last October it passed an amendment to the Fugitive Offenders Act 1988 to address the conflict that arose within the law regarding individuals here being extradited. The amendment also controversially included a provision which empowers the Home Affairs Minister to decide whether to extradite or not.
