The police file on convicted drug kingpin Roger Khan was never closed and in time it will be known whether charges could be laid against him, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan disclosed yesterday.
“The police have continuously been doing their work on Mr. Khan. The file was never left closed and when he comes into the country, he is obviously going to be processed and that is as far as I can stay at this stage,” Ramjattan said during an Alliance For Change press conference.
His comments come one day after he declined to comment on a possible probe.
Asked specifically about charges being laid, he responded, “I think that will be at that moment… known but at this stage, as far as I know, we don’t know about that at all. It is important to understand that it (work) is ongoing.”
He reiterated that US authorities will take a few weeks to process Khan under that country’s immigration procedures, following which he will be deported to Guyana.
“No comment. I cannot make that [public]. The police are doing their work. They will always do work on people who are coming back as deportees. That is as much as I can tell you,” Ramjattan had said when contacted on Wednesday.
When contacted, Police Commissioner Leslie James had also refused to divulge information. “You know of anything like that. I don’t know about anything as such,” he had said.
Told that this newspaper was merely trying to ascertain what law enforcement authorities have done or plan to do, he responded “I have no statement to make with regard to Roger Khan at this point it time.”
Pressed on whether he could not at least confirm that an investigation is being done, he had said, “I am saying to you I have no statement to make in relation to Roger Khan.”
A similar position was adopted by Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Matthew Langevine when asked on Monday.
Observers have pointed out that aside from drug trafficking and related crimes, authorities here should be looking into Khan’s assets since up to the time of his arrest and extradition to the US, he was identified as a wealthy man who owned many properties.
The 47-year-old Khan is currently in the custody of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awaiting deportation to Guyana. He recently completed serving almost ten years in jail. He had been sentenced to two terms of 15 years and one term of 10 years, all of which was to be served concurrently.
When sentencing Khan in October 2009, following his confession to drug trafficking, US Federal Judge Dora Irizarry had stated that following his prison term, Khan would be placed on five years’ supervised release, but would more than likely be deported. She had warned him that if he re-entered the US illegally after deportation, he would be arrested and sentenced to a much longer prison term than 15 years.
