President Bharrat Jagdeo says he has no information that local law enforcement was looking to request Colombian assistance in investigations into the brutal death of Farouk Kalamadeen, but said help would be sought if the need arose.
Kalamadeen, the owner of Jiffi Lubes, an auto shop, had been missing for about a month before his beheaded body was discovered last Wednesday at Cowan Street Kingston, close to police headquarters. His head was found three days later in a trench about a corner away from his North Road and Albert streets business.
Jagdeo was speaking at a press conference held at his New Garden Street office yesterday, to announce a series of measures to address the rising cost of living. He was asked about a state television report which said that local law enforcement was looking to the Colombian government to assist in investigations into the businessman’s brutal murder.
Jagdeo said he knew nothing about the report and added that he did not get involved in the technical aspects of police investigations.
“ I don’t know about that report… I don’t know if the Commissioner of Police had some lead that will possibly require getting help and some co-operation from Colombia… But if leads that take us to Colombia, which I don’t know about at this point in time… require us to seek the support of the Colombian government, we will do so,” Jagdeo asserted.
However, he reiterated that the did not have any information to that effect .
Meanwhile, a senior police source close to the investigations told Stabroek News yesterday that the police were now in receipt of additional information with regard to the man’s abduction. The source did not reveal what the information was, but noted that the police had worked on all information it received but came up with nothing.
This newspaper was also told that the police might still go ahead with performing DNA testing on the samples removed from Kalamadeen’s body. The issue of DNA testing was first brought to the fore when only the man’s body was found – as a means of determining identity. Fingerprints were later used to identify the body.
Kalamadeen disappeared on April 2, while he was engaged in his usual morning jogging on the Houston Public Road. Last Wednesday, his headless body was discovered in Cowan Street, Kingston and two searches by police and relatives in the nearby trench for his head proved fruitless. His head was found three days later, in a North Road canal, a stone’s throw away from his business place.
There has been no word from the police on any significant breakthrough in their probe although they questioned four men following the discovery of the body. Kalamadeen was alive for several weeks following his abduction.
The kidnapping of Kalamadeen and the discovery of his body generated a lot of interest here and in the Guyana diaspora.
