THE United States government has alleged what has been whispered in the ‘underworld’ for some time now that indicted Guyanese businessman Shaheed Roger Khan, also known as ‘Shortman’, was responsible for the deaths of two persons -businessman Davendra Persaud and former boxing coach Donald Allison.

In a 19-page document filed in the Federal Court late Monday night, the Prosecution lawyers in the Roger Khan case are saying that the U.S. government wants to admit as trial evidence that Khan retaliated against Davendra Persaud by threatening his (Persaud’s) family, seizing his vehicle (a grey BMW) and ultimately Persaud’s murder at a restaurant in Georgetown.

The Prosecution is also contending that Roger Khan ordered the murder of Donald Allison. He was gunned down in Agricola after, according to the court documents, he insulted Khan in front of Khan’s co-conspirators.

The U.S. says that although the killings are not part of the current indictment, they point to and constitute direct proof of the charge of continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.

The Prosecution, in its background to the case, is maintaining that Khan was the leader of a violent drug trafficking organization and sent cocaine to New York.

The prosecution claimed that Khan used what the U.S. called a para-military organization, (and what the Guyanese called the ‘Phantom Squad’) to murder, threaten and intimidate others at his direction.

The U.S. government also contends that evidence at the trial will show that Roger Khan and his organization threatened Dave Persaud’s wife, Elisabeth, at her family’s home and business in Georgetown.

But the Feds were “tapping” the phones of Persaud and his wife, so when she called to complain to Davendra who was in New York at the time, the Feds were onto what was happening.

The court document went on to state that Persaud jumped bond and came back to Guyana.

According to other court documents, Persaud vanished on December 23, five years ago, from the New York home of a then BWIA airline employee who was an in-law of Persaud.

It is also alleged that while in Guyana, Persaud started to export cocaine in Ghee among other items and primarily used Universal Airlines including a flight attendant and several other unsuspecting couriers to be part of his narcotics business.

The current court documents indicate that Persaud was moving Khan’s narcotics and owed a debt for Khan.

In terms of the Donald Allison murder, the U.S. says that Allison also obtained cocaine from Khan’s organization and moved it to the U.S.

Some of Allison’s cocaine was seized in New York. From other court documents seen by the Guyana Chronicle source, Allison was in fact a relative of four individuals who were indicted for cocaine shipments, two have been convicted and the whereabouts of the other two are unknown.

Allison himself served time in the U.S. and was deported.

According to the current court documents, Allison refused to work with Khan, insulted him and was marked for death as a result.

Included in the U.S. governments’ argument is that the threats to Persaud and his family, the taking of Persaud’s car, the murder of Persaud and of Allison, while uncharged, are admissible as direct evidence of the charged continuing criminal enterprise and narcotics conspiracy.

The U.S. government, in seeking to build a strong case against Khan who is expected to go on trial in October, wants to admit all the evidence relating to Khan’s activities in Guyana and even ‘stuff’ from Vermont where the U.S. says he jumped bail because he was trading guns for marijuana, among other things.

The U.S. government has also, according to reports, been successful in its bid to get information from Suriname where Khan, when he fled Guyana following the posting of a wanted bulletin for him to present himself for questioning by law enforcement officials here, was held along with three of his alleged Guyanese bodyguards, Sean Belfield, Paul Rodrigues and Lloyd Roberts.

Surinamese police said the controversial businessman, the other three Guyanese and five Surinamese were held on June 15, 2006 in what they described as the result of a huge drug bust involving some 213 kilos of cocaine.

Khan was subsequently deported from Suriname on June 29, 2006, without being charged. He was placed on a flight to Trinidad from where he was nabbed by U.S. Federal agents and taken to the U.S.

His three alleged bodyguards, having spent more than five months under harsh conditions in separate jails in the former Dutch country and without bail, were also deported to Guyana but by way of the Corentyne River on November 22, 2006.