The wife of kidnapped Essequibo boat builder Fabian Gonsalves has denied paying a ransom for his release or having any knowledge of his whereabouts, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said yesterday.
According to Persaud, police will be making attempts to contact the reporter responsible for an article published in the Thursday edition of the Guyana Times, entitled “Over $40M paid for kidnapped boat builder’s release.” He told Stabroek News when reached for an update on investigations, that when ranks made contact with the man’s wife, she said that all the information that was in the article was false. He said that the woman, Philomena Gonsalves, has denied paying any ransom to kidnappers. She added that she didn’t know where he was.
Persaud later said that police are still conducting investigations to ascertain the identity of the kidnappers and where the man was taken.
The police force said in a statement late yesterday afternoon that checks made at the man’s home revealed that he had not returned.
For the past few days, there have been articles in the press about money being paid and that Gonsalves was taken to neighbouring Venezuela. Persaud had told this newspaper earlier this week that police have found no trace of the Hampton Court man.
Three Thursday’s ago, Gonsalves was snatched by two masked men from his mother Jacklow, Upper Pomeroon home around 10 pm. Police investigations have revealed that the man was in a house watching television along with his mother-in-law, Carol Adams and another boat-builder, Chris Williams, when two men armed with guns entered the home through an open door.
The men held them at gunpoint and tied up Adams and Williams, after which they handcuffed Fabian Gonsalves and took him away in a boat. Adams and Williams managed to untie themselves and raise an alarm. A relative had said that the kidnapping came as a shock and they could not ascertain a motive. This newspaper had been told that shortly before being abducted he was warned and this resulted in him fleeing to his mother-in-law’s home for safety.
Police sources in the Essequibo area have since told this newspaper that the kidnappers were foreigners.
