Snaggs calls for probe

ACTING Commissioner of Police Everald Snaggs has called for an enquiry into allegations that members of the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) did not take seriously the threatened kidnapping of Barataria businessman, John Sam Chee, owner of Tenth Avenue Drugs, Eastern Main Road.

The attempt to kidnap Sam Chee was averted after the 58-year-old businessman fired 11 shots at the three men, who also returned fire.  It occurred Tuesday night as he was about to leave his businessplace, police sources said. In the melee, however, Sam Chee’s 31-year-old son, Sean, was shot three times and was up to late evening warded in “stable but critical condition” at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex. North Eastern Division police confirmed that Sean received his wounds from the kidnappers firearms. “He is pulling through quite nicely,” John Sam Chee said yesterday of his son’s condition.  The elder Sam Chee added that Sean needs about three more pints of AB positive blood.  He initially needed ten. The day after the attempted kidnapping, Sam Chee’s sister, Mildred, told Newsday that she had contacted the Anti Kidnapping Squad and informed them that they had received a tip-off about the intended kidnapping.

Acting head of the AKS, ASP Henry Millington confirmed yesterday that Mildred had called the unit, and said he would speak to her sometime today. The tip-off came Monday night when a man came to the drugstore and informed a worker, Mildred said, pointing out that she contacted the AKS the same Tuesday, but was told to contact police in their area. Mildred said she got the telephone number to the elite AKS department after doing “a lot of investigations.” She was adamant that if the AKS had taken the call seriously, the incident might have been avoided. Officers of the North Eastern Division said if they had been informed about the intended kidnapping, they would have put measures in place to prevent it, and possibly arrest the would-be kidnappers. No arrests had been made up to late evening and Cpl Patrick Thomas of the Morvant Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is investigating.