As fear grows over the disappearance of city businessman, Farouk Kalamadeen, his wife yesterday said that it is clear he is being held against his will, but for reasons she did not know.
The 54-year-old proprietor of Jiffy Lubes, located on Light Street, left his D’ Aguiar, East Bank Demerara home about 6 am on Wednesday to go on his exercise routine and has not been seen since.
He was last seen wearing a blue sweat suit, track boots and a cap.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, the businessman’s wife, Nariman Kalamadeen said that they have since checked every corner in the Houston, Mandela Back Road area, interviewed almost all the security guards in the block and no one has a clue as to where the former motor racer might be. “He is not on the track where he left to go, the hospitals do not have him, we combed the area thoroughly so then he is being held against his will,” Mrs Kalamadeen asserted.
She told Stabroek News that around 6 am on Wednesday her husband left to go on his exercise regimen which usually sees him walking around the Houston block. She said he did not have his cellular phone with him but this was not strange as he did not usually carry it when exercising. She said it normally takes him 30 minutes to complete his exercise. “He works with a schedule and he sticks to that schedule,” Mrs Kalamadeen said. According to her from all appearances her husband might have been snatched as soon as he exited the gated Barrington Place, D’Aguiar Park community, noting that none of the security guards along the route he walks every day is said to have seen him on Wednesday morning.
“The guards at Banks DIH, DDL all of them said they normally see him every morning but did not see him on Wednesday,” Mrs Kalamadeen disclosed.
She said that he does not stay away without informing his family. It was business as usual at Jiffy Lubes on Light Street yesterday, even as some of the workers were overheard discussing the incident. Mrs. Kalamadeen was asked whether because of her husband’s status he became a target of criminals. She responded by saying that everyone in today’s society was a target of criminals. “You could be walking down the road with one ring on your finger you are a target…but we are staying positive and hoping for the best,” the woman said. Although frustrated at not having seen or heard from her husband, Mrs Kalamadeen said she was optimistic that there will be a positive outcome to the situation.
Meanwhile, during a visit to D’Aguiar Park yesterday police detectives were seen interviewing some of the security guards in the area. There was also a police patrol at Houston.
Police said that anyone with information that may lead to the locating of the businessman could contact the nearest police station.
Crime Chief, Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News on Wednesday that relatives of the businessman had made a report to the police informing that he had left home and had not returned. “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 said.
Yesterday Mrs Kalmadeen said that the family had not received any strange calls or any demands for ransom. When asked whether the police anti-kidnapping squad had been mobilized to respond to the incident, the Crime Chief said on Wednesday that there was no need to at this stage. It is not clear whether the police had scaled up their operations to find the businessman.
A former executive of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club, Kalamadeen is known for his association with the sport.
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.
