Weeks after, with no sign of him or a ransom demand, the questions continue about the whereabouts of Jiffi Lubes owner, Farouk Kalamadeen.
During several interviews with this newspaper, the former motor racer’s relatives have expressed optimism about his safe return. Some members of the public have ventured to say it was known that he was alive but being held for unknown reasons. Police had arrested three men during their probe, but released them later after they did not glean anything substantial. Family members yesterday said they had not heard any word from the businessman or his abductors, when questioned. They said however that they will continue to hope and pray for his safe return.
Stabroek News had been told that Kalamadeen might have been picked up by foreigners with whom he had problems, but his wife, Nariman Kalamadeen, had said that was not so. Reports are that unidentified men snatched the businessman while he was walking along the Houston Public Road on the morning of April 2. Relatives said that there had been no demand for a ransom to date. Mrs. Kalamadeen had told Stabroek News earlier that it was clear her husband was being held against his will. She however, could not say why her husband was being held.
The 54-year-old Kalamadeen left his D’Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara home around 6 am on April 2 to go on his daily jog. He was last seen wearing a blue sweat suit, track boots and a cap. Family members said they had checked every corner in the Houston, Mandela Back Road area, interviewed almost all the security guards in the block and no one has a clue as to where the former motor racer might be.
Two weeks ago, the businessman’s sister-in-law, Member of Parliament, Bibi Shadick told this newspaper that the people who were holding him are confused. She asserted that relatives were not giving up hope. Shadick also had said that in Guyana whenever someone wanted to kill you they would do it. Reacting 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.
