SUSPENDED COP HELD IN RIA'S ABDUCTION

The trio were who were up to late yesterday assisting police officers with the investigations, were detained at a house along the Rochard Road, in Penal and taken into police custody after shortly after midday yesterday.

The police officer detained is reportedlu on suspension leave. Police officers have also issued an official sketch of a fourth suspect. The sketch shows a man wearing a cap with the writings, ‘Police”. At the crime scene Penal polices officers also found a black X-Trail vehicle matching the description of the getaway vehicle used in the abduction of the young mother. According to police reports at about 8am yesterday, a high-powered team comprising officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Criminal Investigation Department and others acting on information went to a house along the Rochard Road, Penal.

Reports said that a search warrant was executed at the premises where police officers found to the back of the house, a black X-Trail vehicle parked in a garage. The vehicle was subsequently impounded and sent for forensic testing. Investigators spent hours at the premises as crime scene investigators combed the premises. Sookdeo, a well-known hairdresser of Ragoo Village Extension, Wellington Road in Debe, was snatched moments after kissing her nine-year-old daughter Elena and son Toraz, five, as she saw them safely through the school gates. She drove away from the school, up a hill, a stone’s throw away to Picton Estate Drive, where she made a routine turn every morning and evening before heading back home.

Police believe her abductors were lurking nearby and, according to reports, as she attempted to turn was intercepted by a man dressed in police uniform. The man, police said, dragged Sookdeo out from behind the steering wheel of her red Nissan X trail SUV and threw her into a waiting black Nissan X trail before speeding off. Surveillance cameras in the area picked up the vehicle.

Newsday was told the getaway vehicle was spotted in the Lengua district sometime later.

Sookdeo’s cell phone and handbag remained in her vehicle.

Today marks five days since the young mother’s disappearance.

Yesterday as police condoned the premises, scores of curious neighbours lined the roadway.

Among the neighbours were Sookdeo’s family members who rushed down to the scene with the hope that the young mother was found. They told Newsday that they hoped that this new information would help with the case. “We are not giving up.

We have spent the days searching and looking all over for Ria in all different forests, Cedros and Moruga,”said relative Asha Dass.

She said that the police officers have accompanied them in some of the searches while they conducted other searches on their own as groups. “We are just looking and hoping to find something that would help us.

We are praying and hoping to find her,” Dass said. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Sookdeo’s father Frankie Rajkumar, 64, said that he was hopeful that a breakthrough would be made into the disappearance of his daughter. “While we are not sure if that was vehicle in fact used , but I am glad that we are making some headway,” the distraught man said. The family continues to host prayer services at their home. Investigations are continuing.