sharlene.rampersad@guardian.co.tt
Three fishermen kidnapped by Venezuelan bandits and held for ransom were released late Wednesday night after US$13,000 was paid for their safe return.
Fishermen Ramkissoon Harricharan, 64, Carlo Sneider, 61, of Lovers Lane, Icacos and a 24-year-old Venezuelan man identified as Amelto were released by their captors on Wednesday night, shaken but in otherwise good health.
The three were snatched at gunpoint around 7 am on Tuesday while fishing off Galfa Point in Icacos about half a mile from the shore.
Initially, a US $10,000 ransom was demanded. But according to Harricharan’s brother, Premchand Harricharan, who is a popular clergyman in the area known as Pastor Love, the relatives going to pay the ransom were also robbed of the cash and a boat engine.
Premchand said Sneider’s son and another unidentified man had to flee for their lives after the bandits shot at them after robbing them.
But when they returned and the kidnappers called again, they were unsympathetic about the robbery and upped their demand.
“They said they wanted US$20,000 but we were able to negotiate with them and all the money we could have made up was $13,000 so we paid that,” Premchand said.
He did not give the details of when and where the second ransom was paid neither did he say where the victims were dropped off. But he said they were physically unharmed.
“They said they kept them in some bushes and one of the men stayed with them at all times. They didn’t beat them up or anything but they are traumatised by the whole thing,” Premchand said.
He said relatives prepared a hearty meal for the men to welcome them home.
Since the incident, there have been calls from the relatives of the men, Cedros councilor Shankar Teelucksingh and Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS’) Gary Aboud for a greater Coast Guard presence in the area.
Sources told Guardian Media that since Venezuela’s socio-economic collapse, Venezuelan gang leaders have been recruiting large numbers of desperate, hungry Venezuelans and forcing them into banditry because of Venezuela’s dire socio-economic crisis.
One of the biggest gangs of pirates operates from the Caño Manamo River in Venezuela. The Caño Manamo is a distributary of the Orinoco River. It branches northwards from the main channel of the Orinoco to the western edge of the Orinoco Delta, before emptying into the Gulf of Paria. Tucupita, the capital of Delta Amacuro state, is located on the east bank (right) of the Caño Manamo.
The source claimed the river-based pirates were responsible for the kidnapping of many fishermen from Erin, Cedros, Icacos and Moruga.