PARAMARIBO, Suriname (CMC):
SURINAME HAS categorically denied beating a Guyanese national who had been arrested and later expelled from the country.
Justice Minister Chandri-kapersad Santokhi told journalists that suspected drug kingpin, Shaheed 'Roger' Khan, had not been beaten while in police custody following his arrest three weeks ago.
Khan had been expelled from the country and is now in a United States jail awaiting trial on drug charges. His lawyers claim that he had been abducted by U.S. officials and flown to Brooklyn. They also charged he had been badly beaten during his arrest in Suriname.
"We did not beat Mr. Khan," said Santokhi, adding, "but when the police SWAT team comes to arrest a suspect that is deemed dangerous, they will handle you very rough. "If they (lawyers) want clarification, they should ask for the information in Suriname through the customary procedures."
"We did not beat Mr Khan", he said, insisting that the Guyanese had met with his lawyers while officials from the Guyana Embassy had also visited him in jail.
"He was arrested in accordance with the rule of law in Suriname and he was expelled in conformity with the legal rule in Suriname", the Justice Minister said.
Over the weekend, Assistant-Prosecutor, Garcia Paragsing, also denied that Khan had been beaten after his arrest.
Khan was arraigned before Paragsing, who said that the then suspect told of bruises to the body as a result of the treatment he received during his arrest.
Meanwhile, the Guyana government says it will seek clarification from Suriname regarding Khan's expulsion on June 29.
Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon said last week that efforts were being made to find out exactly what transpired with Khan.
Santokhi said he is prepared to inform Khan's lawyers and the Guyanese authorities on what had transpired should they need more information.
"What the lawyers in Miami are saying I have already heard from the attorneys in Guyana and Suriname when he (Khan) was being expelled. Shortly thereafter I heard the same allegations from his Trinidadian lawyers.
"The lawyers are doing their job and I hope they do it correctly," he said.
Khan, along with three other Guyanese and eight Surinamese nationals, had been arrested in Paramaribo on June 15 in a sting operation that netted 213 kilos of cocaine.
The United States had been seeking his extradition, but before a formal extradition request was made he was expelled from Suriname on the grounds that he had entered the country illegally.
He was also denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago, since he did not have proper travel documents and was subsequently handed over to US judicial officials, who ware waiting for him in Port of Spain.
Khan who was then flown to the US landed in a Brooklyn, New York, jail where he is awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.
