Jamaat member Clive Lancelot Small, wanted by authorities in the United States to answer gun-related charges, left T&T yesterday to face trial before a grand jury.
Small, also known as Olive Enyahooma El, left Piarco at 4.25 pm on an American Airlines flight, under tight security.
He had been indicted by a US grand jury on May 23, 2002, on charges of conspiracy to possess firearms and possession of firearms, contrary to the laws of the US.
The charges arose out of an alleged plot in May, 2001, to import 60 AK-47 assault rifles and ten Mac-10 machine-guns with silencers into T&T.
A source said US marshals arrived in Port-of-Spain over the weekend to escort Small to the US to face the charges.
No date has been set for Small?s hearing in the US but the source said US prosecutors were working swiftly to begin the proceedings.
Attorney General John Jeremie signed the extradition warrant on Monday clearing the way to officially extradite Small.
Jeremie said yesterday his decision followed an extradition request received from then US attorney general John Ashcroft.
?The signing of the warrant is in keeping with T&T?s Extradition Treaty signed with the US on March 4, 1996, and is consistent with the decisions of the local courts, which gave the prisoner every opportunity to be heard,? Jeremie said.
The State went before the court last week to recover almost $300,000 in legal costs from the Jamaat member.
Members of the Guard and Emergency Branch, with the assistance of a national security helicopter, whisked Small from the Maximum Security Prison just after 1 pm to the nearby Piarco International Airport to await his extradition.
Part of the airport was locked down for about two hours. Small was expected to be taken to the Miami Federal Detention Centre and may have his first court appearance tomorrow, a Miami source said.
Small was arrested at his home in Belmont after local Interpol officers executed a provisional warrant on him.
A month later he filed for judicial review challenging his extradition and won.
However, he was rearrested on a fresh provisional warrant moments after he walked out from the Port-of-Spain State Prison.
But in September, Senior Magistrate Joanne Connor ordered him be extradited to face the charges.
He subsequently filed and lost a constitutional motion in the High Court.
Through his attorney, Pamela Elder, SC, Small then filed a writ of habeas corpus, again challenging the extradition.
In that hearing Douglas Mendes, SC, and Dana Seetahal represented the State.
Justice Rejendra Narine, who presided over the application for habeas corpus proceedings, ruled last week that there was no breach of constitutional rights nor an abuse of process.
Shortly after Narine?s ruling, Small, through Elder, said he was prepared to face the charges and asked that he be taken to the US.
The US is relying on evidence from accomplice witness Keith Andre Glaude, who was arrested in a sting operation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 30, 2002.
Glaude pleaded guilty to the offences and has been sentenced to two years? jail.
