The people who are holding Jiffi Lubes’ owner are not skilled abductors, so said Member of Parliament, Bibi Shadick, the brother-in-law of Farouk Kalamadeen, who went missing over a week ago.
Up to press time last night family members had not heard any word from the abductors or the businessman and Shadick, a former Human Services minister, told Stabroek News that Kalamadeen’s relatives are not giving up hope. “Until we see his dead body then we will accept,” Shadick declared. Police are said to be tracking leads in the disappearance of the 54-year-old of Barrington Place, D’ Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara, although they released a businessman who was held over the weekend in connection with the man’s abduction.
Shadick noted that in Guyana whenever someone wants to kill you they do it.
“Right now the people who are holding him might be confused…they are not professionals so they do not know what to do,” Shadick posited. Family members have been pinning their hopes on prayers and Shadick is encouraging citizens to do the same. She said she was cognizant of the many cases where people disappeared here and have never returned but for her brother-in-law, Shadick said something was telling her he was still alive.
Asked to react to reports that Kalamadeen might have been held over some transaction, Shadick, an attorney at law, said such rumours abound, but the man’s relatives have not given them any credence. She told this newspaper that they had received a telephone call from overseas where the caller informed them that an official working on behalf of the government said that Kalamadeen was being held by a local drug enforcement agency. Shadick said too that there had been rumours that he was being held by the US. “The only credible piece of information I have heard so far is the one which says that he was picked up by two men in a car,” Shadick said.
“So we are hearing all these things out there…if he is wanted in the US then the US would not have done business with him,” Shadick said. She noted that Jiffi Lubes services most of the embassies’ vehicles and the diplomatic offices also sport the Jiffi Lubes sticker on their vehicles. Asked whether the family was satisfied with the police efforts so far, Shadick said yes, noting that the servicemen had been following whatever leads they stumble on. She said too that a number of Kalamadeen’s friends in the business community had been on the alert.
Kalamadeen’s abduction has generated enormous interest locally. Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud said the police had received information that he was abducted. A businessman was arrested over the weekend and released on Tuesday. Stabroek News was told the man who was detained was fingered in the abduction but police investigators were unable to determine whether the man was indeed involved. Stabroek News had been told that Kalamadeen might have been picked up by foreigners with whom he had problems, but his wife, Nariman Kalamadeen, said that was not so. She said that she could not understand why people were suggesting that the former motor racer was involved in illegal business. According to reports unidentified men in a dark-coloured car snatched Kalamadeen somewhere on the Houston Public Road. Family members maintained that he did not have any problems with anyone as far as they were aware. They said there had been no demand for a ransom. Mrs Kalamadeen had told Stabroek News last week that it was clear he was being held against his will. However, she could not say why her husband was being held.
The 54-year-old Kalamadeen left his home around 6 am on Wednesday to go on his daily jog. He was last seen wearing a blue sweat suit, track boots and a cap. The businessman’s wife said that they have since checked every corner in the Houston, Mandela Back Road area, interviewed almost all the security guards on the block and no one has a clue as to where the former motor racer might be.
