US officials preparing extradition paperwork
Stabroek News
June 20, 2004
Extradition proceedings are still to be initiated against the alleged local associates of 13 persons arrested in April for various drug-trafficking and money-laundering offences in the United States.
A US embassy official told Stabroek News that the United States District Attorney's (USDA) Office in Brooklyn, New York was preparing the paperwork and all the procedures are being followed and that at times that these things take a little time.
An official at the USDA office in Brooklyn was less forthcoming, saying only that the investigation "is officially still ongoing".
Following the arrest of 13 Guyanese, officials of the USDA, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE) in New York and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) visited Guyana to discuss extradition procedures with Attorney General Doodnauth Singh SC. At that meeting, they informed Singh that they are likely to seek the extradition of some 16 associates of the persons arrested in the New York Metropolitan area and in Florida.
Since then, some persons have retained the services of attorney-at-law Glen Hanoman to coordinate their defence in the event that they are the subject of any of the extradition orders. Stabroek News understands that Hanoman has been consulting with a prominent senior counsel and a Trinidad-based attorney as well as attorneys from New York and Florida.
The arrests in April stemmed from an 18-month ICE investigation into Guyanese cocaine-trafficking and money-laundering networks. The investigation was conducted with the assistance of the DEA, under the auspices of the United States Department of Justice Orga-nized Crime Drug Enforce-ment Task Force. To date, federal agents have seized more than 380 kilogrammes/836 pounds of cocaine arriving on board international flights into John F. Kennedy Interna-tional Airport and Miami International Airport, overwhelmingly from Guyana, in approximately 50 separate operations.
Those arrested in New York were Delvin Adams, Intaz Ali, Shafeek Ali, Zaman Ashraf, Jerome Brown, Brentnol Hooper, Pooran Khublall, and Okobo Vieira, who are alleged to have distributed cocaine for the ring, primarily in Brooklyn and Queens, New York; Dorian Caldeira and Dino Sattaur, who are alleged to have participated in the drug importation and wired drug proceeds from Queens, New York, to Guyana; and Azaam Khan who is alleged to have conspired to purchase cocaine in Queens, New York, from the ring. Between June 2002 and June 2003, these defendants were responsible for distributing and/or importing into the United States approximately 70 kilogrammes/154 pounds of cocaine.
The remaining two defendants, members of a separate ring, are charged with laundering narcotics proceeds, including drug proceeds for the cocaine smuggling ring described above, primarily out of a residence located in Floral Park, New York. According to the complaint filed against them, Sabrina Budhram and Arnold Budhram are alleged to have laundered approximately $10 million in drug proceeds since 1986 by disguising the funds as money belonging to Sabena Manufacturing and Sales, an inactive textile-trading company used as a front. Once the narcotics proceeds were "washed" through the company, the Budhrams arranged to transport the money to Guyana, typically in luggage carried by their associates.