No ransom demand for kidnapped boat builder

Jun 06, 2010 News

Two days after gunmen kidnapped him, police are still to trace the whereabouts of abducted boat builder, Fabian Gonsalves, and family members say they have received no ransom demand.
Gonsalves was snatched by three armed men on Thursday night from his mother-in—law’s home at Jacklow, Upper Pomeroon, Essequibo.
Relatives told Kaieteur News yesterday that they have no idea why he was abducted, and reacted angrily to some media reports which suggested that the incident was drug-related.
They said that contrary to a Kaieteur News report, Gonsalves was not a participant in the Mainstay regatta competitions.
Meanwhile, police said that interviews with close family members and persons in the Pomeroon area are continuing.
There are reports that Gonsalves had been receiving several threatening phone calls.
Yesterday, family members were reluctant to comment on the incident. A close relative of Gonsalves noted that she had not heard of any new development about Gonsalves since his kidnapping.
She said that she last saw her cousin a year ago when he lost his father.
Police, while continuing their search along the coast were alerted to a recent exchange of gunfire in the Pomeroon.
Gonsalves was in the company of his mother-in-law, Carol Adams and another boat-builder, Chris Williams, at around 22:00 hrs on Thursday when two gun-toting men entered the home through an open door.
The men tied up Adams and Williams, and ordered them to lie face-down, after which they handcuffed Fabian Gonsalves and took him away in a boat.
After the ordeal, the others reportedly managed to free themselves and Gonsalves’s wife, Philomena, contacted the police.
Relatives confirmed that the men took three cell phones.
The police responded quickly and spent the night searching for the men in both the Pomeroon and on the Essequibo Coast but failed to locate them.