Fakhrul Salim beats extradition

Since the U.S.A. requested the extradition of well-known Belize City brothers, Mark and Gary Sewell, there have been three others who are facing a similar request. They include Rhett Fuller, Deon Bruce, and Fakhrul Alam Salim. Recently, Gary Sewell lost his battle as Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith ordered that he be handed over. Meanwhile his brother, Mark awaits his fate. But beating the extradition process recently was Khalid El Turk and today another man followed in his footsteps. Fakhrul Salim, a Bangladeshi, was first brought before the court earlier this year on extradition request. Today, Salim received good news which ended with his freedom. The verdict was handed down in a written report dated November twenty-eighth, 2013 and was announced in court today by the Chief Magistrate. Salim, she told the court, has no case to answer to and will not be extradited. He was wanted by the US for being involved with money laundering and the manufacturing of methamphetamine. On March twenty-first, 2013, a warrant was issued for Salim after the United States made a request for his extradition to face charges of conspiracy to manufacture and aid in manufacturing of methamphetamine for importation into the US as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering. His attorney in court, Godfrey Smith argued that the charges are not extraditable offenses under the Extradition Act of Belize and that they did not constitute any offenses in Belize. The Chief Magistrate reasoned that a prema facie case has not been established against Salim and that the case cannot and will not prove that mythylamphetamine and methamphetamine are the same substance; adding that although money laundering is recognized as a crime in Belize, if the substantive offense- the manufacturing of methamphetamine falls by the way side as not being an extraditable offense, then the money laundering offense must also fall.