Family offers $20,000 reward for Gewan

WORRIED relatives of Gewan Geelal, 13, son of San Juan businessman Premnath Geelal, who was abducted at gunpoint while being driven to school last Wednesday, have offered a $20,000 reward to anyone with information that could lead to his safe recovery.

While Geelal’s relatives continue their prayer vigil and await his return, Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) police were called to yet another child kidnapping, this time in Valencia. Cindy Mahase, a 13-year-old schoolgirl was reportedly kidnapped at gunpoint outside her Valencia home on Thursday night and a $100,000 reward was demanded for her safe release. Within the past three weeks, four children have been kidnapped in what police are saying is definitely a new trend. News of the Geelal family’s reward of $20,000 was subsequently made known to Newsday, but when Newsday visited the Geelal residence yesterday, the building remained tightly shut, and relatives shooed reporters away.

Geelal, an asthmatic, was kidnapped on Wednesday morning by two gunmen who used their car to force the car he was being transported in, off a road in Aranjuez. At the time, the boy was en route to Trinity East College. A day after the kidnapping, relatives received a telephone call from the abductors who demanded a ransom of $3 million for his safe release. Geelal’s worried father, Premnath, who was shot and kidnapped in March 2002, said he intends to close down the family business and migrate with his family.