[UPDATED] Kidnap suspects in custody

POLICE were, up to late Sunday night, searching several areas in Sangre Grande, including Azalea Circular, Duranta Gardens, for 22-year-old clerk Andrea Bharatt, who went missing after getting intoa car she believed to be a taxi last Friday afternoon.

Four men are assisting the police with their investigations.

Several areas were searched and police said officers from the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and the Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU) went to several areas in Malabar, where they found and arrested the four men. Investigators said some of Bharatt's personal belongings were also found.

The exercise was led by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith, DCP Joanne Archie and Insp Mark Hernandez.

Newsday also understands police from the Northern and Eastern Divisions were also put on alert and are assisting the AKU.

Bharatt, who works at the Arima magistrates’ court, and a co-worker got into a taxi at King Street in Arima. The co-worker was dropped off at her Cleaver Heights home but Bharatt never made it to hers.

Her father Randolph Bharatt said he called her cellphone repeatedly until a man answered. He said the man told him he knew Andrea was working at a credit union and he wanted money.

In a subsequent call, the man threatened to harm her.

Newsday visited the family’s Arima Old Road home on Sunday and spoke with her father, who said he was still shaken up by her kidnapping, but was trying to be positive. He said he was happy the police were making progress, but would not be at ease until his daughter was found.

Reflecting on the state of the country, he said when he was younger his mother would walk with a knife while running errands to defend herself from criminals. Little has changed, he said, when it came to women being allowed to go about their business without fear for their safety.

"It's as if we've reached nowhere from 1975, in my mother's time, to now.

"I don't know what we can do again to try and keep our women safe. You can't be with them every hour of the day to make sure they are okay."

Bharatt said he felt that non-lethal weapons like Tasers and pepper spray should be made accessible to the public, and while criminals may also have access to these weapons it was a chance the authorities had to take.

"It would even the playing field for women and give them a chance to fight back. I understand the concerns some people have, but we have to take this chance because we as a society are doing all we can and nothing seems to be working."

He said since the news of his daughter's kidnapping he has received calls and good wishes from friends and family members.

Asked what he would say to his daughter if he could speak to her, Bharatt said he only wanted to hear her voice.

"That's all I wanted to hear, really. Usually when you're away from someone for a while you might want to know what they ate or if they took a bath or something, but I have the rest of my life to ask her something like that.

"I just want to hear her voice."

Bharatt said Andrea's mother died years ago and he has filled the role of both parents in her life by waking her up on mornings for work.

This story was originally published with the title "Kidnapping suspects assisting cops" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A late-night police exercise involving members of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and the Anti-Kidnapping Unit has led to the arrest of several people in relation to the kidnapping of 22-year-old Andrea Bharatt on Saturday.

Bharatt reportedly got into a car she believed was a taxi on Friday afternoon but never returned home.

Police said Bharatt's father called her phone when a man answered demanding money and threatening to harm her.

They said several people believed to be the kidnappers were arrested in northern Trinidad between Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

The exercise was led by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith, DCP Archie and Insp Mark Hernandez.

More as this becomes available.