After spending months in Suriname jails on charges of narco-trafficking and being part of a criminal gang, the bodyguards of indicted, drug accused Roger Khan were released from jail yesterday but are still being detained pending their deportation.

They could be back here in another two days.

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All of the charges have been dropped and the trio - ex-policemen, Sean Belfield, Lloyd Roberts and Paul Rodrigues - could be deported by Saturday. They were arrested along with Khan and five Surinamese nationals during a massive drug bust in Paramaribo in June this year. Khan's charges were dropped shortly after his arrest and he was subsequently deported and later arrested by US officials in Trinidad.

Stabroek News was told that the five Surinamese who were arrested in the same bust could face possible charges for narcotics possession and trafficking and also being part of a criminal gang.

While in the Suriname jail the trio had complained about mistreatment and their lawyers were initially prohibited from seeing them. The dropping of charges is another twist in this bizarre matter after Surinamese authorities had indicated that there was a strong case against Khan and the three guards. It was later alleged that Suriname had struck a deal with the US for the handing over of Khan and that the guards would only be kept for the purpose of trying to build a case against Khan in the US.

Roberts, Belfield and Rodrigues were all members of the Guyana Police Force until they were dismissed for various reasons. On two separate occasions following their dismissal Belfield and Rodrigues were arrested during arms finds in Guyana. Belfield was with Khan and Haroon Yahya when the army intercepted a pick-up at Good Hope and seized a quantity of high-powered weapons, ammunition and telecommunications equipment in 2002. Then in 2004 Rodrigues was nabbed with others in an arms find at Bel Air. A number of high-powered weapons and other items were found in that operation.

The men's arrest in Suriname had created a stir back home as it occurred while Khan, Rodrigues, Gerald Pereira and Ricardo Rodrigues were fleeing from local police in the middle of massive cordon and search exercises in the wake of the theft of the army's AK-47 rifles and the release of taped conversations purportedly between former commissioner of police, Winston Felix and other individuals.

Authorities in Suriname had extended the trio's jail time on several occasions, the most recent being earlier this month. It was reported then that authorities would expand a judicial investigation into the allegations against the three bodyguards.

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday a reliable source confirmed that Belfield, Rodrigues and Roberts were taken before judicial authorities yesterday. The source said they were told that they were being released but because they were in the country illegally they would be kept in detention pending deportation.

Stabroek News was told that the necessary paperwork was being done to facilitate the men's return to Guyana. Sources told Stabroek News that they could be deported by Saturday.

Contacted on the matter, attorney-at-law, Glenn Hanoman confirmed that his clients had been released and all the charges against them had been dropped. Hanoman said as far as he knew the men having been released by the authorities were taken back to their jail cells pending deportation. Suriname police were holding the three men at different facilities.

Suriname police had arrested the Guyanese and five Surinamese in the drug bust which netted some 213 kilos of cocaine on June 15.

Prosecutor General Subhas Punwasi was quoted recently in Suriname newspaper de Ware Tijd as saying: "There are no grounds for releasing these suspects, the investigation will continue and they will appear before the judge, it's that simple."

He added that it is a 'big case', which must be uncovered. "So it might take a while before the suspects are brought to court."

Investigators, while holding the Guyanese trio, were trying to uncover who else was involved.

Stabroek News was told that one of the reasons for Khan's bodyguards' long detention in Suriname was to facilitate further investigation of the businessman, who is currently before a New York court charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into that country between January 2001 and March 2006.

Relatives of the three Guyanese men had taken to the streets protesting their continued detention even after charges against Khan had been dropped.

Suriname police had initially charged Khan with being part of a criminal gang, trafficking in narcotics and possession of firearms. Khan was released from a Suriname jail, taken to Trinidad and Tobago where he was controversially arrested by agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and then escorted to New York.