(Trinidad Express) Surinamese national Edmund Muntslag, who is wanted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to traffic ten kilogrammes of cocaine into that country, suffered defeat at the High Court on Friday as he challenged his committal by Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar to be extradited to face trial.
Justice Charmaine Pemberton, presiding in courtroom POS 17 at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, ruled in favour of the Central Authority by upholding the ruling of Ayers-Caesar, who committed Muntslag on January 8.
Despite the ruling, however, Muntslag will not be immediately extradited as he still has the option of appealing Justice Pemberton’s decision.
He is being held at the Maximum Security Prison in Golden Grove, Arouca.
On August 29, 2013, Muntslag was arrested by officers of the Organised Crime Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB) at Trincity Mall, shortly after arriving in Trinidad.
His co-accused, Dino Bouterse, the son of Suriname President Desi Bouterse, pleaded guilty to the joint drug trafficking indictment and terrorism charges last year in a United States Federal Court.
