‘I did not know my captors’

SAN JUAN teenager Zaheeda Mohammed was released unharmed by her kidnappers early yesterday morning, police sources told Newsday.

Mohammed, 18, of Globe Lane, was reportedly kidnapped by four men in a white vehicle from outside Mario’s Pizzeria, San Juan, on Tuesday night. The kidnappers had made a ransom demand of $50,000 and five kilogrammes of cocaine which would have an estimated street value of $700,000. Neither the cocaine nor the cash was paid, police said. Police sources told Newsday they have their own views on the kidnapping but are keeping an open mind on the matter. Yesterday, Mohammed told Newsday she did not know any of the four people who snatched her since they were masked.

Mohammed, a former student of Eastern Community College, said her captors did not harm her and during her time in captivity they told her certain things which she refused to reveal. Police said Mohammed was released around 1.40 am yesterday. She was reportedly dropped off at the Himalaya Club, Third Avenue, Barataria and told to go home. However, she did not want to go to a doctor for medical examination, which is customary, police sources said. She told the police her captors tied her up, but lawmen said there were no marks on her hands.

Police also said Mohammed told them she left her home around 8.30 pm Tuesday to purchase Pizza and was abducted by four men in a white vehicle.  Mohammed told police she was driven around for about 45 minutes after which the kidnappers took her to a wooden house in an unknown hilly area. The kidnappers made several calls to Mohammed’s relatives demanding cash and cocaine. 

Police said the kidnappers probably released Mohammed after they realised neither was forthcoming. Mohammed’s aunt Zamina Hosein, a nurse at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, told Newsday on Thursday that she would have made an effort to raise the cash but wanted no part of the cocaine request. No arrests were made up to late yesterday and the Anti-Kidnapping Squad headed by Snr Supt Gilbert Reyes and Cpl Tom Bernard of the San Juan CID are continuing investigations.