Police investigating the kidnapping of San Fernando businessman Gregory Laing have been given a deadline of of 11.30 am today to charge or release two of the five suspects in custody for the crime.
High Court Judge Ricky Rahim yesterday heard a lawsuit challenging their detention, one of whom is both an imam and a CEPEP foreman. Though the duo’s names were mentioned repeatedly before Rahim, they can not be identified until they are formally charged by police.
Police will be able to detain the other suspects for longer as the court’s decision does not affect them as they chose not to file any lawsuit. Seven suspects were detained on July 1, two days after Laing’s kidnapping.
Three of the suspects, including a 17-year-old girl were arrested at Alicia’s Palace in Maraval, while the others were arrested at their homes in East Port-of-Spain. The teenager, whose six-month-old baby boy was with her at the time of her arrest, and another man were released by police earlier this week.
The T&T Guardian understands police were expecting to wrap up their investigations this weekend before approaching the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice on possible charges on Monday.
However, legal sources said that if investigators are unable to charge the two suspects by Rahim’s deadline, they may have no choice but to release and then rearrest them.
Lawyers representing the two suspects, both from Laventille, filed the application yesterday requesting police justify their protracted detention without charge.
When the case came up before Rahim in the Port-of-Spain High Court around 9.30 am, State attorneys requested additional time to obtain instructions from detectives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit.
Assistant Solicitor General Neil Byam returned to court two hours later and told the judge that the police needed additional time to complete their investigations as they were still in the process of transcribing telephone conversations intercepted in relation to the crime.
Byam also revealed some of the evidence gathered by police in the course of their investigation, which included a cellphone linked to the ransom request made the Laing’s family, and $2,500 in marked bills which was among the ransom money paid by his family to secure his release.
Their lawyer, Criston J Williams, claimed that the application was not merely to secure their immediate release but to obtain an update on the investigation as police had repeatedly refused to provide him with any information.
Rahim ruled the duo’s detention was legal and justified up to the time of the hearing but said that he felt that the police should be able to complete the transcription and close their investigation by today.
As part of the ruling, Rahim ordered the State to pay $8,000, the legal costs incurred by the two suspects.
Laing was kidnapped around 3 am last Thursday as he was opening his family’s Puff N Stuff Bakery at Circular Road, Vistabella. His family is also the owners of Tradewinds Hotel in St Joseph Village, San Fernando. Almost an hour later, his brother received a phone call from someone demanding a ransom of $270,000 for his safe return.
Police traced the call to the Beetham Gardens area and police immediately began conducting search exercises in communities in East Port-of-Spain for the missing man and his abductors.
As police intensified their search, Laing’s relatives delivered the ransom in two payments — $30,000 at a track in Beetham Gardens and later $240,000 near TATECO (Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission) Credit Union in Barataria. Minutes after the final payment was delivered Laing was released unhurt along the Beetham Highway.