Peter Morgan loses extradition fight
Kaieteur News
May 1, 2007
Guyanese businessman Peter Morgan is to be extradited to the United States of America to face drug trafficking charges.
Yesterday, at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates' Court, Chief Magistrate of Trinidad and Tobago, Sherman Mc Nicholls, , presiding in the Eighth Court, ruled that Morgan who was held in the twin-island Republic almost a month ago while on his way back to Guyana from Panama, be extradited after hearing arguments from defence attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar and Rajiv Persad.
Special prosecutor Israel Khan, SC, appeared for the U.S. Government, while David West, head of the Central Authority in the office of the Attorney General, assisted him. Morgan is wanted on three charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S.
The charges are that:
Between 2001 and August, 2003, within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, Morgan, together with others, did knowingly and intentionally conspire to import over five kilogrammes of cocaine into the US .
During the same period, he knowingly and intentionally conspired to possess and distribute cocaine into the US ; and that;
He conspired with others to distribute the cocaine, and knew that it would be imported into the US .
Morgan, who operates an auto sales business here, is the second high-profile Guyanese to be indicted for drug trafficking in the U.S. in less than a year, following that of Roger Khan, whose trial is expected to commence shortly.
Prior to the extradition hearing, Chief Magistrate Mc Nicholls had ruled that the Guyanese businessman remain in custody, despite pleas from his attorneys that he be placed on bail.
Morgan's two attorneys had moved to the court seeking bail for their client, and had presented the affidavits of three Trinidadian nationals which indicated that they were willing to stand surety for Morgan should he be granted bail. But Chief Magistrate Mc Nicholls ruled that the affidavits were not sufficient to secure bail for Morgan.
The Chief Magistrate had informed the attorneys at a previous hearing that investigations by the police revealed that those named to provide security had indicated that they were not inclined to post bond for the Guyanese.
Both Rajcoomar and Persad denied this. They said that their indication was that the people were still prepared to provide security for Morgan. The lawyers had accused the prosecution in the hearing of Morgan's extradition of gaming with a serious issue.
The two lawyers had made a novel application for bail, citing the absence of any specific order from the United States for the continued detention of Morgan following his arrest in Trinidad .
When Morgan made an earlier court appearance, the prosecution said that it was asking for Morgan's detention until May 7, when the charges from the United States should arrive. Peter Morgan was arrested by the Trinidad and Tobago Police, on March 9, last, on a provisional arrest warrant issued by the United States Department of Justice.
According to the provisional warrant, Morgan was being prosecuted for conspiring with three people to distribute cocaine in the United States . The three were identified as David Narine, his wife, Susan Narine, and a Chinese national, Hung Fung Mar.
Narine and his wife were arrested with cocaine in the United States , and are currently being prosecuted.
At the time of his arrest in Trinidad , Morgan was preparing to leave the twin-island republic when two DEA agents and two T&T law enforcement officers detained him, along with another Guyanese national.
After perusing the documents, the officials allowed the other Guyanese to leave but detained Morgan.
Morgan's name was flagged after routine inspection as a result of the Advanced Passenger Information System, a feature that was put in place under the Sunset Legislation for Cricket World Cup 2007.