Ex-Speaker Nizam Mohammed fears kidnapping

IN DECEMBER 2002 officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) warned Naparima MP Nizam Baksh, restaurant proprietor Siewsaran Sawh of Couva and former House Speaker Nizam Mohammed, of an “undercover plot” to kidnap members of their families. With the kidnapping of Sawh’s son Shane in December 2003 and the weekend abduction/murder of Nizam Baksh’s son, Ashmead, Mohammed yesterday expressed fears that he or members of his family might be next.

Mohammed, an attorney, told Newsday yesterday: “I recall around 7 pm in December 2002, my son (Faraaz Mohammed) and I were about to leave for mosque, when members of the AKS pulled up by my gate.” Mohammed, of Sea View, La Romaine, added: “Standing under my house, an AKS Inspector told me that they had reliable information that three families had been targetted for kidnapping . . . the Sawh family, Nizam Baksh and myself.” Mohammed said he was then advised by the AKS of certain precautions he should take when leaving and entering his home and law office.

Mohammed said he was convinced that with Sawh’s and Baksh’s kidnappings “having come to pass,  I’m next in line, as predicted by the AKS.” Mohammed said he was terrified and there was nothing more he could do to secure his family members “that will not affect their daily routine.” He said he and his family could not understand why they were on a list of potential kidnap victims. “We are not in anybody’s way,” the man said. When Newsday interviewed Nizam Baksh at his Barrackpore businessplace in December 2002, he confirmed that AKS members had warned him of a kidnap threat.