21 charges for false kidnapping

A TOTAL of 21 charges have been laid against five people in connection with an alleged false kidnapping report. It involved the alleged kidnapping of a 17-year-old Curepe girl for a $20,000 ransom, police sources said.

Yesterday, senior officers of the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) and Northern Division said they would not be surprised if other kidnappings in the country were staged.  However, AKS sources told Newsday that follow-up kidnapping investigations are yet to prove this. The $20,000 ransom demand was paid by the girl’s father, who police said is likely to be one of the key witnesses in the State’s case against the five people, whose ages range between 17 and 23. All five have been charged with wasteful employment of police time; conspiracy to defraud; obtaining $20,000 by false pretences, while the man who reportedly called the girl’s father for the ransom has been placed on an additional charge—-demanding money by menaces. The charges were laid yesterday by PC Nirmal Ramjattan of the St Joseph Criminal Investigations Department (CID), after consultations with Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Carla Browne-Antoine. They are due to appear before a Tunapuna Magistrate today to answer the charges.  The five were arrested at the weekend in the Curepe and Tunapuna areas after intense investigations by Insp Michael Modeste, Sgt Don Lezama and PC Ramjattan of the St Joseph CID. The girl was allegedly kidnapped on July 21 while walking along a road in Curepe.  She was then dropped off at Carmody Street, St Augustine four days later, after the $20,000 was paid. During her time in captivity, police said the alleged kidnappers had threatened to kill the teenager if the ransom was not paid, and AKS sources said the money was split among the five, all of whom reportedly confessed to staging the kidnapping.