$3M ransom for car dealer

THE RANSOM demand for kidnap victim Saran Kissoondan was again changed with the abductors calling for $3 million.

Sources told Newsday that Kissoondan’s family was contacted by telephone yesterday morning, threatening to kill the prominent car dealer if the demand was not paid by late evening. It was the third ransom call to the family in the last 72 hours, with a different sum of money being demanded on each occasion. Hours after Kissoondan was abducted, the family was contacted to pay one million dollars. On Tuesday, the ransom demand was lowered to $200,000, and then hours later, skyrocketed to $3 million. Kissoondan, 35, also known as “Billy”, was abducted at the gates of his house at Reserve Road, Palmyra, on Sunday night by a gang of men. Kissoondan is the owner of Auto House, a foreign used car business, which he runs in the yard of his premises. Police reports said that around 7.30 pm, the victim was alighting from his car, a white Nissan Wingroad, when a gold Nissan Sentra pulled alongside and a man masked in a bandanna pointed a gun at Kissoondan’s head. A shot was fired into the air and the assailant dragged the victim into their vehicle and sped off.

Police said the incident happened in full view of his wife, Estella, and their two young children Vedhan, eight, and Shastri, 10, who were seated in Kissoondan’s vehicle. Members of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad are continuing investigations into the incident. Meanwhile, Toco farmer Renwick “Blair” Locario was released early yesterday morning, sources at the Anti-Kidnapping Squad told Newsday. Locario, 42, was said to have been released around 3 am on the Lady Young Road, Morvant.  He then telephoned his relatives after which the police picked him up. Police sources said he was battered on the head and on other parts of his body, and lawmen said he appears to not want any police action. What was strange about the kidnapping, police said, is that the alleged kidnappers did not make any negotiations regarding a ransom demand. Locario was reportedly kidnapped from his home early Monday morning by four men, who were said to be heavily armed and clad in army-type camouflage fatigue. They bundled Locario into his own pick-up truck and sped off.  Investigations are continuing.