Longdenville taxi driver missing, months after car stolen

MONTHS after he was hijacked and robbed by armed men, taxi driver Deo Persad has gone missing.

Persad, 53, of Ravine Sable Road, Longdenville was last seen on August 6.

The Anti-Kidnapping Unit is working on the case but to date, there have not been any leads.

His family are hoping and praying he is safe and found alive.

It was reported that in February while Persad was returning home he was hijacked not far away and his taxi stolen. The thieves, police reported, were armed with cutlasses and wore masks.

Since the incident, Persad was fearful and had stopped working. Relatives said he rarely left home since the incident.

But on August 6, he went out shortly after 9 am and was seen later that day in St Mary’s Junction near Freeport. His niece Nazreen Ali-Gilbert told Newsday another relative had seen Persad getting into a taxi heading for Waterloo near Carapichaima.

“It has been almost a month now. We have searched everywhere we could think of. We went to every community in Waterloo posting flyers and speaking to villagers. But we left with nothing,” Ali-Gilbert said.

She said after Persad was held up he was afraid of working as a taxi driver.

“It happened as he was about to turn from the main road onto his street. These men, he said, came out of nowhere and jumped in his car with cutlasses. They robbed him of the money he had made that day and they took the car.

"This was hard for him. My uncle is a hardworking man. He is the type of man who would leave home by 4 am to work.”

Ali-Gilbert also said her uncle would not just "pick up himself and just go by someone." Persad is not married and has no children.

“He has never even spent a night out. He does not drink, lime, or smoke. We don’t even know if the robbery which happened a few months ago is linked to his disappearance.

"But we do know that something is wrong. We just want him home. Please if anyone knows something or had seen him that day, please go to the police, please."

Police from the Longdenville Police post are also investigating.