Dr Bari denies smuggling claim, says he was going to China on business
Surinamese police accused him of al Qaeda links
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
May 8, 2002
Local medical practitioner, Dr Abu Abdul Bari, has denied claims that he was smuggling diamonds when he was held in Suriname recently and says during his incarceration he was accused of having links with the al Qaeda terrorist network, something the Sudan-born man said was not so.
Dr Bari also wants the Surinamese authorities to release money and jewellery taken from him when he was incarcerated while on his way to China last month.
Dr Bari and a former customs officer, Malcolm Sonaram, were detained in the country by the Suriname military police for a week and released into the custody of the Guyana police on May 1.
The doctor has since been released by the local police on $20,000 bail pending investigations but the former customs officer was taken into police custody and is reportedly ill in a private city hospital.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Dr Bari, who is a member of the board of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation denied reports in other sections of the local media and the Surinamese media that he was a member of the terrorist network, al Qaeda and that he was attempting to smuggle diamonds out of the country. He said that all he was doing was going to China on business.
Contrary to a local media report which said that he lived in Suriname, he said that he had never resided there. Dr Bari said that he was born in Sudan but has lived in Guyana for the past 23 years. He also lived in China for seven years where he studied medicine.
He added that he was going to buy a chemical analyser for his clinic and Chinese acupuncture equipment for which he had the sum of US$12,700. He also had an appointment with a Chinese corporation to show them a sample of diamonds. Dr Bari is also a diamond dealer. He said that he carried a tiny parcel of diamonds weighing a mere quarter of a carat. He also had five of his own gold rings and five others which he was taking to friends he has in China worth some US$700. He also had two brown stones valued at $30,000.
Dr Bari said that he left Guyana on the overland route for Suriname on April 23, to catch a KLM flight bound for Holland in the company of the former customs officer. He said that he had arrived at the Zandria Airport at 7 pm and the flight was due to leave at 7.30 p.m.
Because he was late, he said that he contacted the manager of the airport and explained to him the circumstances. The manager summoned an airport attendant and instructed her to do a rush check. Having completed the check, he said that himself and the ex-customs officer went to the area where the customs and immigration officers had already left their respective stations but encountered the military police further down the corridor. They searched his hand luggage and told him to proceed to the aircraft.
He said that when he was about to head for the tarmac to board the aircraft, he was detained by two officers who asked him if he knew the other Guyanese (Sonaram) who had arrived late with him. He said `yes’ and was taken back into the area where the military police were. He said there the military police revealed that the other Guyanese had certain items in his luggage.
Consequently, he was taken to another room and strip-searched. Attempting to explain his innocence and the fact that the relevant officials were not present to make a declaration of the money he had because of his late arrival, he said he was verbally and physically abused. He said from facing two military policemen things changed when around 20 heavily armed men arrived.
Dr Bari, Sudan-born and a naturalised Guyanese, said that his identity was questioned and this led to him being accused of being a member of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network. The police suggested that other members of the network were already aboard the plane and delayed the aircraft to search it.
He said that himself and Sonaram were handcuffed and escorted by the civil police for further interrogation and they took away all his personal belongings including his money.
He was refused a receipt for his property and he was refused telephone calls to his family and lawyer as well as the Guyanese Embassy in Suriname. His medication (he is diabetic) was taken away and he was imprisoned.
Meanwhile, he said that the print and electronic media in Suriname had carried reports that the Surinamese police had captured a wanted al Qaeda member and had detained him. He said he was incarcerated in the Surinamese penitentiary where the country’s most notorious criminals were assigned. Dr Bari said he endured three days of unceasing interrogation, photographing and fingerprinting several times. While there he was also called bin Laden and Taliban by captors and prisoners.
He added that his passport and other documents were sent to the US Embassy in Paramaribo to determine whether he was a terrorist.
On the third day, he said he was called and told that he was free to go but when he asked about his money and jewellery he was told to wait outside. Subsequently, another officer came and escorted him back to his cell.
That afternoon, he said that a prominent lawyer who had read the story in the newspapers asked to see him and arranged for him to go before a judge on April 29. He explained the circumstances surrounding his case and how he was treated because he was Sudanese by birth. In recent years Sudan had been cited by the US as a haven for terrorists and bin Laden spent several years there building the al Qaeda network.
On April 30, he said that the police told him that he would be able to uplift his money and personal belongings. The lawyer told him to wait to collect his things but much to his surprise the police rushed him and Sonaram into a police vehicle telling them that they would be taken to Guyana at the request of the Guyana government. He was given a receipt for his things minutes prior to his departure for Guyana. At Nickerie, the Guyanese police awaited them with a boat. He said the local police bought them food and treated them professionally. They were taken to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary where he gave a statement and was released on $20,000 bail pending the outcome of investigations.
Dr Bari said that when the authorities learnt of his incarceration in Suriname the local police searched his home. His wife was at home at the time. They found one .22 bullet which had probably been a "souvenir" of a robbery in November 1998 at his home in Bel Air when he was shot. He admitted that even though he is a diamond dealer and had applied for a gun six to seven years ago the police had not given him the go- ahead to own one. As such he does not have a gun.