The TSU anti-crime unit aided by a heavy presence of mobile patrols around the city effected the swift rescue of a 26-year-old accountant who was kidnapped by a gang of three in West Ruimveldt on Friday night.
A kidnapper was one of the two persons held when police swooped on a North Ruimveldt house some three hours after the kidnapping and rescued Andre Barnes, a resident of Supply, East Bank Demerara.
A press release from the Police Public Relations Office yesterday afternoon said that quick work by the police anti-crime unit of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU), assisted by other police ranks, led to the rescue of Barnes after he was kidnapped by three men who demanded a ransom of $50 million for his release. One of the suspects has been arrested and an unlicensed Jennings 9mm. pistol with 10 matching rounds recovered.
Following his rescue, Barnes told police investigators that he had left a Kitty location around 20:30 hours and proceeded to his girlfriend’s home to uplift some food containers. He said that he parked his car outside the house and his girlfriend later joined him in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. Relatives of the victim told Stabroek News that he was chatting with her when masked men approached the vehicle and tapped on the windows demanding that he open the door. He complied, and the men ordered the girlfriend inside her home
For his part Barnes told officers that three males came from behind and held him at gunpoint. He was then bundled into the back seat of his car and blindfolded.
After driving for a few minutes he was transferred to another car at an unknown location and taken to the North Ruimveldt house.
While there one of the kidnappers asked for his mother’s number.
It is understood that Barnes’s telephone was dead, so the abductors swapped sim cards with him so he could make a call to his mother. According to the police, after placing the call, a ransom demand was made saying the money had to be delivered within six hours or Barnes would be killed.
The release went on to say that two of the men then went out, leaving Barnes guarded by a single armed man.
Stabroek News understands that acting on information police swooped on the house, where they found Barnes handcuffed in the middle bedroom of the upper flat, while the gunman was lying on a bed.
Police sources said last evening that the kidnapper, a 24-year-old seaman of Louisa Row is not a known ‘character’ and had not revealed anything about the incident during questioning. This newspaper was told the other person arrested is a woman who is related to persons of ‘shady character’ and resides in the bottom flat of the house where Barnes was found.
This newspaper was informed that the heavy presence of mobile patrols around the city aided in the swift operation and shortly after Barnes was seized alerts went out about his motor car, PLL 8269, which was snatched by the abductors. According to the police statement it was recovered at Princes Street and Mandela Avenue, Georgetown.
Meanwhile John Barnes, the uncle of the man kidnapped, told this newspaper that the family decided to contact the police after the kidnappers telephoned his nephew’s mother and made the ransom demand for $50M. He said the police were ready from the first word and that they sprang into action immediately.
Barnes, who is the son of a Caricom official, was apparently being watched by his abductors before he was snatched. There is uncertainty about exactly how many people were involved in the foiled abduction plan, and there are also unanswered questions as to why Barnes was targeted.
He was traumatised by the incident and was resting when this newspaper contacted the family yesterday. His father is currently out of the country on official duties and reports are that the Caricom Secretariat broke the news to him.
Barnes’s relatives yesterday recounted what they knew of the incident.
Subsequent to being forced out of the car, the girlfriend called Barnes’s mother as well as the police. Barnes’s mother then called his uncle John and a decision was taken to get the police involved. The uncle recalled that he went down to the police outpost in the area and made a report.
“I was there when they sent out the alerts and calls were made to the mobile patrols; they were moving really quickly because less than an hour later his car was found,” the uncle recounted. He said the police were hot on the trail of the abductors and shortly after they reported that his nephew was found in the house at North Ruimveldt.
Barnes’s family commended the police operation saying they were gratified by the swift response. His mother, Hemwattie Barnes said the family had never received any threats prior to the kidnapping and were shaken by the incident. According to her, the family are now assessing the security options which are available to them.
