Lawyers representing Surinamese Edward Muntslag, who is accused of drug trafficking, have expressed concern over the possible ramifications of a recent plea bargain between their client's co-accused and United States authorities.Attorney Keith Scotland raised the issue during a hearing of Muntslag's extradition case in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court yesterday.
The hearing came days after Dino Bouterse, the 41-year-old son of the president of Suriname, pleaded guilty to the joint charge as well as to a separate international terrorism offence in a US Federal Court in New York, last Friday.During the hearing before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, Scotland said the recent development in the case may potentially affect the fairness of Muntslag's eventual trial in the US and may provide grounds to support his challenge of his proposed extradition.
Scotland then requested that local attorneys representing the US provide his client with official information of Bouterse's guilty plea, including details of his agreement with law enforcement authorities and confirmation whether Bouterse had implicated Muntslag.In response, Senior Counsel Israel Khan, who is representing the US through the Central Authority, assured Scotland that he would attempt to facilitate the request by referring the issue to his client.
However, Khan warned that to access some of the requested information might prove difficult as local authorities do not have jurisdiction over US courts.Khan also suggested that the extradition case should continue while the request was being processed.The chief magistrate agreed and allowed Khan to call his next witness to testify, the police officer Sgt Michael Vasquez who arrested Muntslag.
In his brief testimony, Vasquez, who is assigned to the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB), explained that on August 29 last year, he received information that Muntslag was in Trinidad.Armed with a photograph obtained from an Interpol database, Vasquez said he went to Trincity Mall where he found Muntslag and arrested him, before taking him to court for the start of his extradition proceedings.
Muntslag, a 30-year-old businessman, has been detained at the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca, since Ayers-Caesar refused his initial request for bail.The case will resume on September 11, when permanent secretary in the Office of the Attorney General Marlene Juman is expected to complete her testimony related to the authenticity of Muntslag's extradition documents sent by US authorities.
Background
Bouterse was extradited to the US last year after he was arrested in Panama for conspiring with Muntslag to import five kilos of cocaine into the US and for using a gun during a drug trafficking crime, between 2011 and August, last year.He was later slapped with an additional charge for providing material support to Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah, which the US has designated a terrorist organisation.
The terrorism charge arose from meetings in Greece and Panama with undercover US agents, posing as representatives of the militant organisation.
Bouterse is said to have agreed to take US$2 million to provide Hezbollah operatives with fake identities, weapons including surface to air missiles and locations in his country to establish bases to attack US and Dutch targets. Bouterse is scheduled to be sentenced by US District Judge Shira Scheindlin on January 6, next year, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.