Up to press time last night police were 80 per cent sure that a body with its head wrapped in duct tape which was found near the Caroni Cremation site yesterday morning was that of kidnapped teen Riaz Khan.
Gyasi GonzalesKhan, 19, of Arena Road, Freeport, was kidnapped on Monday night while standing outside his father's businessplace at Jerry Junction, Carapichima. He is listed as being the eighth kidnapping (for ransom) victim for the year.
Reports were that at 7.30 p.m. on Monday Khan was attending to a trailer of a truck when a white Nissan Almera drove alongside the boy. Two gunmen dressed in dark clothing got out the car, grabbed the boy and bundled him into their vehicle. They then fled the scene.
The next day around 1 p.m. Khan parents received a telephone call from the kidnappers who demanded a $2 million ransom for his safe release.
The Sunday Express understands that the boy's parents have been speaking to the kidnappers pleading with them not to harm him.
Yesterday however things took a turn for the worse around 10 a.m. when a passer-by walking along the Caroni Savannah Road, approximately a quarter mile from the entrance to the cremation site, stumbled on a body with a bullet wound to the back of the head.
The corpse was clad a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Police said that the head was wrapped in duct tape and it was found just behind a gate that leads to the grounds of the cremation site. There were no signs of decomposition to the body and police speculate that the boy may have been shot dead elsewhere and dumped there.
Visiting the scene were a party of officers from the Chaguanas CID, the Homicide Bureau as well as the Special Anti Crime Unit including some of the newly integrated officers from the United Kingdom.
Together they cordoned off the scene as well as kept the body covered by a yellow and white tent as they took great pains to ensure that the crime scene remained as intact and untampered with as possible.
The body was later removed to the Port of Spain Mortuary. A post-mortem is expected to be done soon.
