Police and relatives of city businessman and motor racer, Farouk Kalamadeen, were up to press time last night awaiting contact with him after he disappeared yesterday morning during his morning jog on the Mandela Avenue Back Road.
Kalamadeen, owner of Jiffy Lubes, located on Light Street and North Road was last seen in the vicinity of the Houston, East Bank Demerara Bypass close to Mandela Avenue sometime after 5 am yesterday.
His relatives were tight-lipped, only confirming that he was missing and had had no contact with them since yesterday morning.
Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud told Stabroek News that relatives of the businessman, who resides in D’Aguiar Park, made a report to the police, informing that he left home yesterday morning and had not returned. Relatives said that efforts to contact Kalamadeen via his cellular phone have been unsuccessful.
“All I can confirm is that a report was made…there has been no calls for ransom so we are not treating it as a kidnapping,” Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday afternoon. Asked whether the police anti-kidnapping squad had been mobilized to respond to the incident, Persaud said there was no need to at this stage since they did not know where to search as there is no indication where the businessman might be.
Kalamadeen’s Light Street business remained open yesterday and operated for the entire day. Stabroek News visited the area and spoke to a few persons who would only confirm that they heard about the businessman going missing. “I just hear I am not sure what really happen,” an employee repairing a tyre commented. A former executive of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club, Kalamadeen is known for his association with the sport. Officials close to the fraternity said that he was integral to the organising of two recent race meetings at the South Dakota Circuit. Stabroek News was told that Kalamadeen, apart from operating his automobile service centre, was also involved in gold mining.
Back in 2002 at the height of the crime wave gunmen believed to have been the prison escapees had attempted to rob a house in Section ‘K’ Campbellville, during which time Kalamadeen had told this newspaper he responded to the attack. At the time he was residing in the area.
