Son’s kidnapping not ‘stage-managed’

THE FATHER of kidnap victim Shane Sawh yesterday declared that no member of his family arranged the kidnapping of his son and called upon the Government to give the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) the crime-fighting tools it needs to combat the kidnapping scourge in Trinidad and Tobago.

Shane, 21, was snatched from the yard of his family’s Couva home on December 4 and freed by his captors on December 17 after relatives paid a portion of the $1 million ransom demanded for his release.

In an open letter dated December 18, businessman Siewsaran Sawh said: “I want the Prime Minister (Patrick Manning) to know that neither my son nor any member of my immediate family stage-managed the kidnapping of my son. It is absurd to even think that my wife and myself kidnapped our only child.

For 13 days, my wife, myself, our extended families, my neighbours, my friends and even total strangers, all shared in the fear, the agony, the injustice and the torment. Words cannot express our thanks and appreciation to all these people.” The Prime Minister is reported to have said some kidnappings in TT were not real.

Ag Police Commissioner Everald Snaggs said of the 43 kidnappings for 2003, ten were false. Sawh lamented that no State agency offered his family counseling during their ordeal and said maybe no such agency exists. The businessman however expressed his family’s heartfelt gratitude to members of the AKS for their “unflinching support and dedication during the most tortuous 13 days of my family’s life.”

Sawh declared that at no time did he express dissatisfaction with the AKS’ handling of his son’s kidnapping. “If there is any dissatisfaction that I may harbour is that I am of the view that the AKS is in dire need of more sophisticated equipment and training to deal with this scourge that now engulfs our nation. I appeal to the authorities to do their utmost to assist the AKS in their efforts to eradicate this menace,” he said.