JENSEN LA VENDE
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Kidnappings for ransom have doubled this year when compared to the same period last year, according to T&T Police Service statistics.
Data on the TTPS website showed there were six reported cases between January and October this year and for the same period last year, there were three.
Kidnappings, however, have reduced, as there were 124 last year and 75 up to the end of October.
The information came as a 14-year-old boy was snatched yesterday morning.
Police said Zaheer Samuel was with his parents when he was grabbed by two men from outside his family’s business place, SS Plant and Garden Shop, Eastern Main Road, St Augustine. Up to press time, police said no ransom demand was made.
His kidnapping happened two days after kidnap victim Zahir Khan was rescued.
Khan, 69, the father of a businessman, was rescued from a house at Small Street, Second Caledonia, Morvant. He was snatched on Saturday while in the yard of his Bamboo Settlement Number 1, Valsayn home.
Based on police information and media coverage, there have been several high-profile kidnappings this year, some for ransom. They included Suvesh “Cooksie” Ramnarine, who was abducted from Robs Bar in Cunupia by five men dressed as police in October. He was released a month later after a $3 million ransom was demanded.
On July 19, Komal Maharaj, a 40-year-old former schoolteacher, was kidnapped outside a bank in Price Plaza, Chaguanas. He was found on August 2.
In September, Pierre Road, Felicity businessman Sachel Kungebeharry, 32, was allegedly kidnapped by two police officers and a $500,000 ransom was ordered. On October 3, his decomposing body was found in a shallow grave off Pokhor Road, Longdenville. Two police officers who were assigned to the Caroni Police Station were jointly charged with Kungebeharry’s murder and misbehaving in public office by kidnapping for ransom.
Efforts to get a comment from the TTPS proved futile yesterday.
