Two arrested in abduction of rescued family of five

NALINEE SEELAL AND LAUREL V WILLIAMS

TWO men in their 20’s have been arrested in connection with Saturday’s kidnapping of a Penal family of four and a female relative. The five – Aaron Sooknanan, 28, his 26-year-old Venezuelan-born wife Paola Sanchez-Sooknanan, five-year-old son Ricardo, three-year-old daughter Isabella and Sanchez-Sooknanan’s sister Rosa Angel, also from Venezuela, were rescued by a joint team of officers who went to a house at South Oropouche, Barrackpore at around 11.40 am yesterday.

Heavily armed police from the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), along with colleagues from the Organised Crime and Intelligence Unit (OCIU), the Anti Kidnapping Unit (AKU) and the Southwestern Division CID stormed the house and “extracted” the victims.

Aaron was badly beaten and had broken bones. He was unable to walk when he was rescued by police, however his wife also appeared to have been beaten and was deeply traumatised when found.

The children appeared to be unharmed, but sobbed uncontrollably when they were rescued at the Barrackpore house. The family of four were taken in an unmarked police vehicle to the San Fernando General Hospital where Aaron was kept under police guard while his wife, children and sister-in-law were taken to an undisclosed location.

Prior to the rescue, police went to Rambally Park, Fyzabad and detained two men in their early twenties. They also seized a gun. After their arrests, the men allegedly told police where the family was being kept.

During the police exercise yesterday, Barrackpore residents close to the house told police they were unaware that hostages were being kept there, but said the house was frequented by Venezuelans. Police were trying to make contact with the owner but he could not be found.

Around 7 am on Saturday, Aaron's mother, Zalica, went to the Penal station and reported that she went to her son’s Jhulai Trace home, off Penal Rock Road, and saw the front door broken. The home appeared to be ransacked. The AKU was notified and a search began.

Griffith told Newsday yesterday this was the seventh kidnapping in three months in which a kidnap victim was rescued and not a single ransom was paid.

He said while ten years ago kidnappings might have been a lucrative business, that window of opportunity has closed with the introduction of intelligence-led policing under his watch. Griffith said the latest incident was not a kidnapping for ransom and investigators were following certain leads.