Kidnapped man rescued from Carenage shack

A Chaguanas man who was snatched by kidnappers who later demanded a $100,000 ransom was rescued from a Carenage shack shortly before noon yesterday.

Josh Corrie Quashie, 38, is believed to have been kidnapped during the early hours of Saturday. His black Hyundai car was found abandoned at St Alban Road, Valencia around 8.30 am on Saturday. The car had a false registration number.

Worried relatives alerted the Anti Kidnapping Unit and after a ransom demand was made, police went to a Port of Spain guesthouse and searched for a suspect.

Yesterday the rescued man was taken to hospital, where he was treated for cuts and other wounds. A suspect was held and is assisting police. Police Commissioner Gary Griffith told the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and the Anti-Kidnapping Unit to be relentless in their search for Quashie.

Police using information received from an Arima man went to the house at Haig Street, Carenage, where Quashie had been kept since Saturday and rescued him.

A helicopter from the National Security Ministry was also used.

Griffith said, “Over the last three days, different intelligence agencies were monitoring the situation, upon which we were able to carry out the operation.”

He later issued a press release saying the police were “here to assist ALL members of the public and will continue to Protect and Serve with PRIDE.”

Quashie’s rescue is the fourth such recent success by the police where kidnappings are concerned. Last Wednesday Maria Dass-Supersad, a UWI manager, was kidnapped by two men at the UWI campus in St Augustine.

The SORT and Northern Division police rescued Dass-Supersad from a camp four miles into the Caura forest. Two men, 21 and 35, from Maraval and Valencia, were arrested and charged with her kidnapping.

The SORT also rescued a Penal family of four and the family’s babysitter after they were kidnapped two Saturdays ago. Aaron Sooknanan, 28, his wife Paula, her sister Rosa Angel and Sooknanan’s two children, Ricardo, five, and Isabella, three were taken from their home by armed men.

Last Sunday they were rescued from a Barrackpore house. One man was detained and charged. On September 9 Natalie Pollonais of Palmiste, San Fernando was rescued from her kidnappers close to the Courts Megastore in San Juan. She was snatched on September 6 after leaving the Central Athletics Club at the C3 Complex in San Fernando.