No decision yet by cops on Roger Khan
Convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan, who was detained by the police on Friday night for questioning in relation to the murders of political activist Ronald Waddell and boxing coach Donald Allison, remained in custody up to last evening as the expiry of the 72-hour period in which he could be held without charge approached.
This was confirmed by Khan’s attorney, Glenn Hanoman, who informed Stabroek News that his client remained in custody and investigators have not interacted with him since Saturday. “Since they interviewed him on Saturday morning, the investigators have had no further contact with him,” Hanoman said.
He explained that up to last evening, it was unclear whether the police have sought legal advice on either charging Khan or if a decision had been made to release him.
However, Hanoman said what he did know was that an application was not made to further detain his client. “What I do know is that no application was made for them to keep him for a further 72 hours, which was a possibility,” Hanoman noted.
The end of Khan’s 72-hours detention period is sometime between 11.30pm today and 1 am tomorrow.
“….I don’t know when it started really. He was arrested by the police since 11.30 (Friday night) but they are saying he wasn’t arrested, he was escorted as a deportee. About an hour after he reached CID (Criminal Investigation Department), after being processed as a deportee, then the allegation was put to him, so I don’t know if that is what they are counting as the time for arrest, if that’s the case maybe its 1.30 (this morning),” Hanoman explained.
Hanoman last evening visited the lockup where Khan was being held in hopes of speaking to him.
He said several efforts made by him to contact the ranks at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary for an update on his client’s status proved futile.
As a result, he said he would be visiting personally. “I have been unsuccessful in making contact with any of the relevant police so I am forced to go there personally,” Hanoman noted.
He further related that it would be “highly improper” for the police to detain Khan beyond the 72-hours period. If this is done, Hanoman plans on filing habeas corpus proceedings this morning.
Khan arrived shortly after 11.30 pm on Friday at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on an American Airlines flight from Miami.
Upon his arrival, the 47-year-old was whisked away under heavy police guard to the CID at Eve Leary, where he was processed.
After spending close to an hour there, during which time he was briefly allowed to see his attorney, he was transported to an undisclosed holding facility.
Hanoman later related that Khan told him that the police had explained to him that he would not be released and instead would be held for questioning about the murders of Waddell and Allison.
On Saturday, Hanoman had told this newspaper that investigators have concluded the interview process with Khan and he has maintained his innocence.
He had said that they were awaiting legal advice on the way forward.
Hanoman had explained that during questioning, a number of questions, including those relating to what occurred some 15 years ago were raised.
“Of course he maintained his innocence… he said what he had to say about all the allegations and all the questions they asked but he told them that he wouldn’t want to say anything anymore after this interview. He answered as best as he could, all of the questions he was [asked]…he didn’t remain silent, he tried his best to answer the questions… Questions were relating to 15 years ago and things like that, where he was and all of that, that aren’t possible to answer,” he had related.
“He indicated at the end of the interview that he won’t be willing to give any further statements afterwards. So the police have to see what they will make of that,” Hanoman added.
Waddell, 57, was killed in January, 2006.
At the time, it was reported that a darkcoloured car took the gunmen to the scene, where they were apparently watching Waddell’s movements from the seawall. As soon as Waddell got into his car, two gunmen ran across the road and opened fire on the vehicle. They then ran back across the road, jumped into their car and sped away east along the highway.
Allison, meanwhile, was killed in September, 2005 in a drive-by shooting carried out by men armed with machine guns. Allison, 43, came under a barrage of gunfire outside the Ricola Boxing Gym on the Agricola Public Road. He was sitting in front of the two-storey building with a female student when the men pulled up in a dark coloured vehicle and opened fire. Allison, who sustained wounds to his head and upper body, was clearly the target of the attack.
Police had arrested freed murder accused Shawn Hinds and two relatives of dead ‘hitman’ Axel Williams, but the men were all released. It was believed that a city-based death squad with links to the underworld carried out the killing.
However, Selwyn Vaughn, an informant for the US government, during the witness tampering trial of Khan’s former lawyer Robert Simels, had claimed that Khan ordered the execution of both Waddell and Allison.
Vaughn, a professed former member of Khan’s alleged “Phantom gang” who was granted immunity from prosecution, had testified in the United States that he had served as the lookout for the hits on Waddell and Allison.
Khan, who is alleged to have been given free rein under the then PPP/C government to go after persons he determined to be criminals during the crime wave following the 2002 jail-break, was released from a US prison in early July. He had served almost ten years of a 15-year sentence for drug trafficking. He was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine, witness tampering and gunrunning.
He had been arrested in Suriname and was seized by US authorities in Trinidad while en route to Guyana.