Cunupia salesman abducted, shot in hand

A 30-year-old Cunupia salesman, who stopped at the roadside to urinate on Tuesday, was abducted, dumped in the trunk of his own car and driven around for more than 11 hours before being shot in the hand and released yesterday.

Police who preferred not to release the identity of the man for security reasons, said that at 11 am on Tuesday, he parked his Kia Cerato along Gileys Road in Cunupia. While standing at the side of his car, he was confronted by two men who got out of a white Nissan Tiida. One of the men pointed a gun and told him to hand over his cash. The man told the bandits he did not have any money and all he had was a chequebook.

The bandits put him in his car trunk and drove around from 11 pm to 10 am yesterday. The man said he thought he was going to be killed and tried to escape. At 10 am yesterday, the bandits stopped at an abandoned cane field at Chandernagore. The victim told police he began begging for his life after they threatened to kill him.

Instead they shot him in the right hand and told him to count to 20 and then leave. The man was so traumatised that he waited more than 20 minutes before asking passers-by for help. He was taken to the Chaguanas police station and later to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

On Tuesday, when he failed to return home, his relatives filed a missing-persons report to the Cunupia police. Investigations are continuing.