Justice Mark Moham-med, presiding at the Port-of-Spain High Court, yesterday granted the order following an application by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geof-frey Henderson.

The ex-parte application, which was argued by Gilbert Petersen SC, was made under Section 23 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. It is the first time that a detention order had been requested since the Act was assented to last September by President George Maxwell Richards.

The detention order allows the authorities to keep Lenville Small in custody for a further 48 hours without charge. If the State needs an extension, it will have to go before the judge again tomorrow and renew the application.

Small, of Gonzales, was arrested on Friday night after police executed a search warrant at his home in search of arms and ammunition. Small was not at home at the time of the search. Police did not find arms nor ammunition, but they reportedly found a "hit list" with the names of five persons with price tags on them — Attorney General John Jeremie, Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls, David West, head of the Central Authority Depart-ment of the Attorney General’s Ministry, Doug-las Mendes SC, and Dana Seetahal. Five of the persons, the State argued, were involved in the extradition of Lance Small to Fort Lauderdale in 2004 to face charges.

Lenville Small was kept in police custody until Tuesday when his attorney Jawara Mobota made an ex-parte application seeking a writ of habeas corpus.

As a result, the application for a writ of habeas corpus was postponed to tomorrow. Lenville Small remains in custody.