RADHICA DE SILVA
Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Bleeding from his hands and feet, where he was hog-tied with straps and a severed seatbelt, kidnap victim Arshad Mohammed screamed for help as he sat under a coconut tree, fervently praying he would not die.
His screams alerted a goat farmer who came to his rescue and saved him as the kidnappers attempted to negotiate a $500,000 ransom.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Arshad said he was thankful to the farmers of Basta Hall, Couva, who saved his life, saying if they had not intervened, he could have been dead. Recalling the horrific ordeal, Mohammed said he went to drop his mother, Annie Mohammed, in their garden at Rahamut Trace, Woodland, when two men with guns tied him up and threw him in the back seat of his Nissan X-Trail.
Mohammed said his face was concealed, and as the men drove off with him, they beat him mercilessly on his head while asking him personal questions.
Mohammed said he was surprised that the men knew so much about him and his family’s agricultural business.
“They were asking me questions and if I took too long to answer, they would hit me on the top of my head,” he recalled.
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Asked to elaborate, Mohammed said: “One man asked where I was living, and what vehicle I drove. While transporting me, they had my face covered. They covered me with a red jumper. When we reached wherever they carried me, they took me out of the van and told me not to run. They said they were going to take off the tie from my hand. They told me today is the day I will die,” Mohammed recalled.
After tying him with seatbelt straps, Mohammed said the men left him in the bush saying they were going to organise a $100,000 ransom. Instead, they asked for $500,000.
As the sun beat down on his head, Mohammed said he prayed for help. “There was plenty of bush. Jeps were flying around. I wasn’t thinking about myself. I was thinking about my parents. I heard a vehicle passing, so I started to shout ‘Help! Help!’” he recalled.
“The driver stopped and came out and said, ‘What happened, boy?’ I said two men kidnapped me from where I was living and brought me up here,” Mohammed recalled.
By the time the farmer returned with help, police also arrived.
Mohammed said he was taken to the Couva District Hospital where he was treated for wounds to his hands, feet, and head.
Expressing disgust with the crime rate, Mohammed urged other businesspeople to be vigilant.
Meanwhile, his father, Ashmir Mohammed, who owns several bars, said he did not plan to stay in T&T.
“We work so hard, we employ 50 people. Sometimes we work 16 hours a day. We are so hurt and traumatised by this. The way we are living in Trinidad is like we are living in a prison,” he said.
“My whole intention now is to get my family out of this country; if we are not happy, we cannot stay here. We cannot even carry on our business as we want to.”
Moonilal expresses outrage
Meanwhile, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal also expressed outrage over the kidnapping. He also urged businesspeople to be vigilant.
“It seems Debe and Penal are now hotspots for high crime, violent crimes, and home invasions,” he said.
Last December, Debe electrician Shiva Lochan, 28, was abducted on December 7 after he left home in a company van to do a private job in Palmiste. His body was found ten days later, badly decomposed. An autopsy found he died from a gunshot wound to the head.
