?Assistant US Attorney, Emily Miller, pointed out to the Washington jury that the men charged with taking US citizen, Balram Balo Maharaj, hostage were part of a gang going about kidnapping people in Trinidad. She said apart from the Balo kidnapping which ended tragically, the gang was identified in three other kidnappings for ransom. She said in one case, no money was paid and the victim was rescued by the police and the army. Miller said after the gang members were successful in earlier kidnappings, they went after Balo. The first one occurred in December of 2004, about five months before Mr Maharaj was taken hostage, she said. She added: "It involved a man named Dexter Jagdeo. Mr Jagdeo ran a car rental business in Trinidad. He ran it out of the same place that he lived."
"He was at his home/business in December of 2004 when two people, dressed as police officers, who were not police officers, armed with an arrest warrant, which was false, convinced him to get in the back of their car, believing he was under arrest. "They whisked him away, abducted him, and held him for hostage. He was only released after a ransom was paid." She said: "The evidence will show that in connection with the kidnapping of Dexter Jagdeo, Wayne Pierre was involved in the planning, and in fact Mr Jagdeo was held at Wayne Pierre's father's house. "Zion Clarke participated in guarding Mr Jagdeo. Ricardo de Four engaged in clearing the roads and also doing initial surveillance of Mr Jagdeo. "Kevon Demerieux got part of the ransom proceeds.
"Motivated by this great ransom they had obtained in connection with Dexter Jagdeo, that's when the plan came to them in February of 2005."
"The initial idea that Doreen Alexander actually brought to these conspirators was not to kidnap Mr Maharaj, but rather to kidnap her son, Dinesh, in a ruse to have him kidnapped, and in that way Mr Maharaj would take his money and pay ransom for the release of his child, and she would get a piece of that. "She suggested a $3 million ransom in Trinidadian dollars. US $500,000, a fortune in Trinidad. "But after the conspirators here discussed that initial plan, they realised it wasn't very good business strategy, because Doreen Alexander wanted to be able to visit with her child while he was being held hostage, and they realised, if the police found out about this or talked to Dinesh, the plan would fall apart. "That's when the plan changed to become to kidnap Balram Maharaj, the person who was eventually kidnapped, and demand the ransom from his family members."
Miller continued: "Mr Maharaj wasn't in the country at the time, so they went on with a different plan, some of these defendants did, and that's a kidnapping of a man that happened in March of 2005, about a month before Mr Maharaj was kidnapped. His name was Robin Ramadhar. "Mr Ramadhar is an importer/exporter who was at least thought to have some money in Trinidad. "He, much like Mr Maharaj, was sitting at a bar one night in March of 2005, the Curry House Bar, when he was snatched by two armed gunmen, shoved into the back of a car, driven to the jungle and held hostage. "He was not released until 200,000 Trinidadian dollars were paid for his release. That's a little more than US $30,000, and that's still a lot of money in Trinidad. "The evidence will show that Wayne Pierre was instrumental in organising that kidnapping, and that Ricardo de Four also played a role in that kidnapping.
"That's why at least some of these defendants were motivated to go on and kidnap Balram Bachu Maharaj in April of 2005 and why they knew they could trust each other and what roles they would each play in this conspiracy." The prosecutor went on: "That last kidnapping involved a woman. Her name is Sita Ragoonanan. And you're going to hear from her over the course of this trial. "In June of 2005, Ms Ragoonanan was coming home from work. She'd worked all day at the pharmacy. She was in her suit, in her heels. She was just basically at her driveway. "She trudged up a little steep hill that she took to get to the driveway to her house. Just as she approached her driveway, she was snatched and shoved into the back of a car and driven to the mountainous jungle, where she was held like that, blindfolded, for about a week. "And a ransom was demanded for her release, but it was never paid, because the evidence will show that she was actually rescued."
TOMORROW: Jonathan Zucker, attorney for Ricardo de Four
