Drug accused businessman, Roger Khan was yesterday transferred from the Nassau County Correctional centre, a state prison to a US federal facility.
The move is seen as beefing up security around the Guyanese who is expected to go on trial around the middle of this year.
Khan had been indicted by a New York court for allegedly conspiring to import cocaine into the US and was recently refused bail.
A source close to the Guyanese businessman said that the move to transfer Khan from a state prison to a federal prison could be viewed as an effort to maximize his security in the run up to his trial.
The source added that from reports he has received Khan’s circumstances have changed since his last court date and yesterday’s move to transfer him was the latest in a number of things that have occurred.
When Khan was arrested by the US last year June, he was incarcerated at the Nassau State prison.
One of the businessman’s lawyers said that under normal circumstances Khan would have been taken to a federal jail, but consideration might have been given to the fact that many Guyanese are being held in federal prisons and this may have opened up opportunities for him to contact potential witnesses and accusers. This, the lawyer said, the US authorities might have been trying to avoid and as such they placed him in a state prison.
The alleged drug dealer is now being held at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York City.
The MCC is an administrative facility housing male and female pre-trial and holdover inmates. The jailhouse is located in lower Manhattan, New York adjacent to Foley Square and across the street from the Federal courthouse.
Stabroek News was told that the federal prisons are usually equipped with computers and as such Khan’s interest in accessing a computer might be realized.
It is the first time since the Guyanese was detained that his name has shown up in a federal prison and this according to sources meant that the federal authorities are treating the case very seriously. Khan’s lawyers have argued in court that the US government has no evidence to prosecute him and at one stage, one of the attorneys had filed a motion asking the US to withdraw the indictment.
Last week Robert Simels one of the accused’s lawyers made an application seeking the court’s permission for Khan to have a laptop computer while in prison.
The application was made before US Judge Dora Lizette Irizarry who will rule on or before January 29 whether or not Khan will be allowed the laptop.
In his application, Simels said that Khan would like access to the computer in the law library of Nassau jail to assist in the preparation of his defence and to review materials in the pending matter.
According to the application, if permission is granted the computer shall be maintained under the care and custody of the correctional facility during the time that Khan is incarcerated.
Khan is also asking that if his request is granted no other inmate, employees or agents of the Nassau jail should review the contents of the computer or any compact discs, as the contents are privileged and confidential.
On January 16 Khan appeared at a bail hearing and was denied pre-trial liberty following lengthy arguments over several weeks.
The judge said then that he must be held without bail and continued to deem the case a complex one. The businessman has since filed an appeal against the decision to deny him bail. The appeal motion was filed on Monday.
Judge Irizarry last week in denying bail to Khan said that she did not find that the defence had provided sufficient facts to guarantee that Khan will be present for the duration of the hearing if granted bail.
In addition, the judge said there is probable cause to believe Khan committed the offence listed in the indictment. The prosecution also indicated to the court that it has close to 800 pages of evidence on Khan, wire taps and witness testimony from Guyana and persons in the US who have been around Khan while he allegedly ran his drug trafficking organisation.
Khan also faces a superseding indictment which the judge requested be presented to her by the next court date scheduled for late February.
