Three years after Naail Ali was kidnapped outside his family's hardware store in Gasparillo, police are following new leads which suggest he was killed and buried in a forested area in Caroni. A team of police officers went into the forest yesterday, following a tip-off, in search of Ali's grave. However, the search had to be aborted after three officers from the San Fernando Homicide Division and a justice of the peace were attacked by a swarm of bees. According to reports, the team trekked one-and-a-half miles into a forested area off Trantrail Road, Caroni. They crossed one river and were about to cross another when members of the search party were attacked by bees.
Two female officers, WPs Gomez and Ramai, began screaming, further agitating the bees which also attacked Sgt Anderson Parryman and JP Akbar Ali. Ramai, who is allergic to bee stings, and the other three, were rushed to the Eric Williams Medical Centre where they were treated and kept for observation. Ali reportedly checked himself out and was taken to a private nursing home. For Naail Ali's parents, Tiki and Sharmina, the news that he might have been killed re-awakened the anguish and suffering they endured after he was abducted from outside the family's business, A&S Hardware and Furniture Store, on June 10, 2008.
Tiki told the T&T Guardian: "The police called this morning and said they had somebody. We are just waiting to hear what happened.
"It is three years, four months and two days since he was taken from us and we are only hoping and praying for the best," the elderly Ali added. He said while they were still holding out hope, the news had a devastating effect on his family, especially his wife. "It is terrible. She is taking it very, very, bad. Words cannot express what I am feeling. We just want closure," he added. Ali was 26 years old, when three gunmen grabbed him as he came out of his vehicle, forced him into a white Toyota station wagon and drove off. A ransom was demanded later and an undisclosed sum of money was paid but Ali was never released.
Three suspects in the kidnapping, Rawle Charles, Brian Pierre and Jimmy Cherry, were all killed. Charles, 26, believed to be the mastermind in the kidnapping, was killed in a shoot-out with the police four days after the abduction at a hide-out in the Tabaquite forest. In January 2009, Pierre was also killed by police in the Tabaquite forest. A few months later, Cherry, 46, a deportee from the United States, was found dead on the roadside at Caroni Old Road, Hermitage. Police are reportedly looking for a fourth suspect.
