Venezuelan businessman kidnapped in Trinidad as police probe separate abduction case

Trinidad & Tobago: Another tourist has been kidnapped and assaulted after the case of the abduction of the British tourists gained the attention in Trinidad and Tobago. In the new incident, a citizen of Venezuela was kidnapped in central Trinidad and police have now launched investigations into the matter. 

The two separate incidents which occurred in central Trinidad and Port-of-Spain have led to investigations as the authorities are trying to locate one of the victims and identify the culprits responsible for both the crimes.

A 30-year-old Venezuelan national named Albert George Navarro Arcia was reportedly kidnapped on Saturday night. Arcia was supposedly conducting a routine business transaction in the Waterloo, Carapichaima area when the horrific incident took place. 

Arcia and a teenager travelled to the area in a blue Nissan B13 to sell cheese, as per reported by the police. What began as a regular business meeting quickly took a dramatic turn as a group of people approached them at the agreed location and forcibly took Arcia from the area in a speeding vehicle. 

Arcia’s sister later received a WhatsApp message demanding US$10,000 for his release. The police tried to identify the exact location where the incident took place, but failed. The investigation is now being continued by Freeport Police Station and the Anti-Kidnapping Unit. 

Before this incident, days earlier, another foreign national was allegedly involved in a frightening abduction that happened in Ariapita Avenue, Port-of Spain.

A twenty-seven-year-old United Kingdom citizen Aman Bains reported that he was abducted when he was walking in Ariapita Avenue near Hamilton Holder Street at around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. 

Reportedly, Bains was attacked by four masked men and a masked woman. Then he was taken to an unknown location against his will. 

He was allegedly beaten and threatened during the incident. The assailants stole three bank cards and US$200 in cash before releasing him. He said that they threatened to harm him if he refused to cooperate with their demands. 

Bains told the police that the abductors left him at a bus shed near the Audrey Jeffers Highway, after which he returned to his hotel room at around 5:30 a.m. He then informed his manager about the incident in the morning. 

There is no connection indicated by the police between the two cases, but both of them are being actively investigated. No one is arrested yet as the cops continue efforts to locate Arcia and the kidnappers. 

These incidents have instilled fear among citizens and foreign nationals, while the authorities are putting efforts to solve both the cases.