Kidnapped men beaten with cutlass, iron for hours

The three men released by kidnappers earlier today, after being taken from a mini-mart in Freeport on Sunday, were badly beaten for hours in a forest.

Brothers Aaron Roopnarine, 20, and Sunil Roopnarine, 24, and Shazam Hosein, 30, were dropped off in front of Aaron's Calcutta #1 apartment shortly after 11 am today and were taken to the Freeport Health Centre where they are now being attended to by doctors.

Photo by Stacy Moore

In an interview at the health centre today, Hosein said the men were taken to a forest and beaten with pieces of iron and a cutlass.

Hosein, whose arm was in a cast, said the men repeatedly asked "Where is the money?" but the three had no idea what they were talking about.

"I don't know what money they were talking about. I would never steal money from anybody. It can't be us. It has to be somebody else they mistook us for."

Kidnap victim Shazam Hosein.

Hosein feared the men would kill them.

On Sunday evening the men were at the mini-mart when a van and car pulled up and two men, claiming to be police took them into the vehicles. The kidnappers then drove off.

Up to this morning police were still questioning several people.

Relatives said they are still in shock and could not understand why anyone would want to hurt the men.

Kazim Hosein.

"I am just glad he is alive. I just want him home. Some parents would lie and tell you that their son or daughter is good knowing that they are bad seeds. That is not the case with my boy. He is not in anything. I cannot understand this," Hosein's tearful father Kazim told Newsday.

Wiping his tears he said, "I raised my seven children on my own for 15 years after their mother died. We are Christians, I know my children. It really hurts to know what happened to my boy."

Freeport police are investigating.

Comments

"Kidnapped men beaten with cutlass, iron for hours"

More in this section