As the search for Debe hairstylist Ria Sookdeo continued yesterday, her husband, Mark Sookdeo, made a teary-eyed and desperate appeal to her abductors to return her to their family.
“I’m here today pleading to those who have abducted my wife to please return her home to her family. Please, I am begging, I am pleading to those people to give in, please return Ria Sookdeo home to her family,” Mark said at his Raghoo Village home.
Eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, his body frail from not eating, Mark said no one could describe the pain his family was feeling. His innocent five-year-old son, Torres, pranced around the yard as relatives cleaned, but nine-year-old Elana has been crying since learning of her mother’s abduction.
Around 8.30 am Thursday, Sookdeo dropped off the children at the Picton Presbyterian Primary School and drove her red Nissan X-Trail SUV to Picton Estate Drive to turn. That was when a black Nissan X-Trail pulled up behind, blocking her path. Two gunmen wearing tactical clothing bundled her into their SUV and drove off.
At his Philippine home yesterday, her father, Frankie Rajkumar, wept.
“I never thought this would have reached home to me, I am devastated. I really don’t know, I just want my daughter back home with me,” Rajkumar said.
Police upset
On Friday night, relatives got a tip-off that someone saw her tied up in an abandoned building in Cedros.
When they checked, she was not there. Officers said a lot of people were giving false information, which has distressed the family.
Police said while they continue to seek the public’s assistance in finding Sookdeo, people should be responsible with the information they share. On Friday, Sookdeo’s photograph was shared on Facebook with the poster saying that she was found dead in New Grant.
However, police said that was not true. Searches were made in Princes Town, Cedros, Palo Seco, Chatham, Barrackpore, Moruga and Penal.
Spiritual people have been pointing relatives to southeast and southwest Trinidad, saying that their visions showed sea and a foreign country. An investigator told the T&T Guardian yesterday that they were focusing on intelligence gathering.
“We are getting one to two tips that people saw her on the beach or walking here and there which has been reckless. We are asking people to be professional and be honest about what they are saying and seeing because they are allowing law enforcement agencies to waste resources,” the investigator said.
They said it was unlikely that she would be a victim of human trafficking and smuggled into Venezuela, where there is a severe economic depression. They added that Venezuela’s coast guard, La Guardia Nacional, patrols the water frequently and it would cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to ship someone across.
Anyone with information is asked to contact these numbers: 652–2858, 679-3165, 800-8477.