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– all five now capturedPatrick Skeete and his wife pray with an elder from his churchPolice have captured all five kidnappers in Wednesday’s Mahaicony drama, and interrogation has revealed chilling details of how they had planned to kill their victims after collecting the $12M ransom.Following the capture of two suspects at the scene of the kidnapping, in the Letter ‘T’ Estate, Mahaicony/Abary backlands, East Coast Demerara, police were able to round up the three remaining suspects between Wednesday afternoon and early yesterday morning.One of the remaining suspects was held by villagers with a bag of wet clothes, hours after two of his accomplices were captured.He was handed over to the police after receiving a sound thrashing.Police in a press release stated that at about 01:00h yesterday, ranks in the Police ‘C’ Division, East Coast Demerara arrested the remaining two suspects on the Mahaicony Public Road.On Wednesday, the police had rescued rice farmer Parasram Ramnarace and his pump attendant Patrick Skeete after they were held hostage by the men who had demanded a $12M ransom for their release.Kaieteur News understands that one of the suspects,Matt Joyce Jersey, whose right arm is amputated, had initially claimed that he was fishing in the area,New York Yankees Aroldis Chapman Jersey, a story investigators did not fall for, since they were unable to locate the fishing apparatus.Another suspect claimed that he was picked up by the four other men who told him that they were going hunting.He claimed that it was not until they had tied up Skeete that he realized that he was actually part of a gang of kidnappers.He was eventually made the lookout man.During further interrogation, one of the suspects gave a detailed account of the operation.He said that he and the others who knew each other had hatched the plan at another East Coast Demerara village where most of them reside.Investigators were told that the men arrived in the Mahaicony area by a car which is owned by one of the kidnappers. They then left the car and had it picked up by a mechanic, while they proceeded into the backlands.Kaieteur News understands that one of the men, a close associate of the kidnapped rice farmer, is very familiar with the area.The suspect said that the plan was to collect the ransom, kill their victims and then leave the area one by one, by separate means.After they would have reached safely to their destinations,Kurt Suzuki Jersey, they would have contacted their victims’ families and told them where to locate the bodies.The police, who responded promptly after receiving word of the ransom demand, surprised the kidnappers who were on the lookout for the person who they had arranged to bring the cash. According to a police source, the ranks who initially responded were forced to cut a trail to take them to the spot where the victims were being held while the kidnappers were focused on the dam leading into the rice field.Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, shortly after a special prayer with his wife, Patrick Skeete said that he believes the men would have killed them since they were identified although they were wearing masks.He said that he recognised one of the kidnappers by his voice.Recalling the ordeal,Jamie Garcia Jersey, Skeete said that at around 03:00 hours on Wednesday morning, he was in a camp pumping water when he heard the sound of a cutlass lashing the wall.He called out to whoever was outside to identify themself, and subsequently got up to investigate.He said he saw four persons who had masks covering their faces.“They snatch me and throw me on the ground. They pull off me pants and tie me hand behind me back and mask up me face. They tell me walk and they walk me far in a dam and tie me foot,” Skeete said.He said that the men kept asking him for his bossman, Amar Ramnarace, the older brother of the other kidnap victim. The men then gagged him and ordered him to remain silent, and while two were left to keep watch over him, the others left.He said that after lying in the rice field for hours, he realized that day clean was approaching with the chirping of birds.Although tied up, Skeete somehow managed to free his face of the mask and eventually he was able to stand up and shouted for help.“I see the men dem by the camp. I lay down back because if dem men de see me, they would’a come back and kill me,” Skeete said.He said that from his vantage point he could see Amar Ramnarace in another rice field but the man could not hear him over the sound of the tractors.He then saw Parasram Ramnarace approaching in his pick-up and he eagerly wanted to warn him of the impending danger.“I stand up and shout, ‘boss, don’t go deh, dey gone kill you’ but he didn’t hear me,” Skeete recalled.But by then the men had grabbed Ramnarace and all Skeete could hear was loud hollering. Fifteen minutes later he heard the reassuring sound of the GDF helicopter.This newspaper caught up with Ramnarace minutes after he had returned from the hospital yesterday.He recalled that he arrived at the site at around 07:30 hours and was a bit surprised when he did not see Skeete. He also found it strange that the camp door was closed and as he got closer to the pumps,Aroldis Chapman Jersey, he saw the shadows of two men behind a parked tractor.He said that the two men along with three others who had emerged from their hiding place confronted him.“We got some steel spade wah we does dig with. Dem come round me and start lash me and buss me head… and me fall down. Dem blindfold me and tie me hands behind me back and after dat dey beat me, oh God! All me face dem buss,” Ramnarace related.He said that the men took his phone and negotiated with his brother as to how the ransom should be paid.According to Ramnarace, the men warned that the money should not be marked.Then he heard the sound of bullets.“The two wha went with me, I could hear dem run off, because was whap, whap,Tampa Bay Rays Colby Rasmus Jersey, whap!”When the gunshots died down,Tampa Bay Rays Wilson Ramos Jersey, Ramnarace realised that a rescue party was on the way.He said that he had recognised one of his kidnappers by his amputated arm, but he pretended not to know him, since he feared that to betray that knowledge would have cost him his life.Skeete too indicated that he knew the one-armed kidnapper, since he had pointed out hunting grounds for him in the past.Ramnarace said that it was the one-armed kidnapper,Atlanta Braves Dansby Swanson Jersey, who after being caught, took the police to the spot where they had left him.“When me see he me say,Kevin Jepsen Jersey, ‘Roger boy, ah me you ah do suh boy? You nah know me?’ he bow he head and shake he head,” the rice farmer stated.He said that he was convinced that the men would have killed him.His brother Amar indicated that he would have done anything to have Ramnarace and the pump attendant released.They were all loud in their praise for the police who they said “saved the men’s lives’. |
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