Newsday workers rescue kidnap victim

By Wendy Campbell

Two Newsday workers delivering newspapers on the Orange Grove Road, Trincity early yesterday morning were shaken out of the daily routine of their jobs when they came upon kidnap victim Allan de Boehmler running along the road and waving frantically for them to stop. There was blood flowing from his nose.

Rishi Sooknanan and Carlon Wilson stopped their van and went to his aid but had difficulty encouraging him to go with them to the police as he appeared uncertain whether it was safe for him to go with them. Hours before de Boehmler had been snatched from his Petit Valley home and taken by four armed men to a shack in the Orange Grove area. He managed to escape when the man left to guard him fell asleep.

"He was very reluctant to go to the police station," Rishi Sooknanan, said yesterday while recounting the ten-minute encounter with the Petit Valley man who had been snatched Wednesday evening. "It was only when I urged him to speak to a police officer at the front of the Arouca Police Station that he went. He kept asking if the man was really a policeman. He just was so scared," Sooknanan said.

Yesterday, Rodney de Boehmler, manager of Waste Disposal Limited, said his son, who is also employed as a manager of the same company, probably was scared to go to the police station because he was possibly too traumatised.

"He was really shaken up when he got home," Rodney said. He added that his son is fine and was thanking God that he was still alive and home with his family. Rodney said his son was not beaten.

But both Sooknanan and Carlon Wilson said when they picked up de Boehmler on the Orange Grove Road Trincity, Arouca, there was blood flowing from his nose and he had what appeared to be a bruise on the left side of his face.

They also said his hair was rumpled. Sooknanan, 25, of Chaguanas, and Wilson, 18, of Arouca, both played a part in the rescue operation which took place around 1.30 am yesterday. They are both employed with The Daily News Limited.

Police said de Boehmler, 34, of Hibiscus Drive, was grabbed by four armed men while speaking to a neighbour outside his home.

They then drove off with him, but his abductors never made a ransom call to family members, who along with members of the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) waited most of Wednesday night and part of yesterday morning.

However, de Boehmler, a father of two, escaped his captors just after 1am yesterday when the lone man who was guarding him fell asleep in a shack on Orange Grove Road, Trincity, Arouca.

De Boehmler then slipped off his handcuffs, jumped through a window and ran out to Orange Grove Road, Trincity, Arouca, where he flagged down the van driven by Sooknanan. Police said de Boehmler's kidnappers intended to ask his family members for $800,000 for his safe return. His was one of three failed kidnappings since last Saturday night when Arima businessman Ishwar Maharaj was kidnapped from an Arima bar.

The other one occurred with Central businessman, Michael Beepath, who escaped from a shack in Pipiol Road, Santa Cruz. Maharaj's abductors left him in a house in Sea Lots and a party of officers rescued him. His captors wanted $400,000 for his safe return, but got none.

At the time of de Boehmler's rescue, Sooknanan said they were going into Orange Grove Road to deliver subscriptions for two people when they saw a man running and waving in a frantic manner.

They brought the van to a stop and the man identified himself as Allan de Boehmler, who told them he had been kidnapped and had just gotten away. During the trip from Orange Grove Road to the Arouca Police Station, Sooknanan said de Boehmler told them he was talking to his neighbour when four men with guns pulled up in a car and grabbed him.

"He told us that he did not retaliate when he saw the guns," the two said.

They also said that de Boehmler was very much afraid during the trip and was concerned that the men were going to come after the van.

"He acted as though they were right on his heels," Wilson said, de Boehmler also told his rescuers that he had flagged down several vehicles before the van came along.

The other vehicles ignored his appeal for help. He also told them that he didn't know why he was abducted since he drives an old vehicle (Suzuki Baleno) and wasn't in any "big job".