Another Venezuelan "Businessman" Falls Victim !!!

[snowbird]

source: Trinidad Express

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl ... =161262927 (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161262927)

Businessman found dead in Arima
Joel Julien jjulien@trinidadexpress.com


Saturday, January 12th 2008


THE body found along the Guanapo Road, Arima, was yesterday identified as kidnap victim Paul Salandy.

Salandy's body was found on Thursday at around 11 a.m, three hours before his relatives received a $300,000 or a half-kilo-of-cocaine ransom demand for his safe return.

Officers from the Arima CID went to the half-mile mark along the Guanapo Road after they received a tip-off. There, they discovered the body of a man with gunshot wounds to his head and chest.

An alarm was only raised about Salandy's mysterious disappearance after one of his employees, Hamid Lalla, 42, was attacked by three men while entering Salandy's Ocean Avenue, Cocorite, home at around 1 a.m on Thursday.

Lalla was struck in the head by what he believes was a gun butt, and his throat almost slit in the ambush. He was discharged from hospital af ter receiving more than 100 stitches to his neck injury. The attack on Lalla is what raised the alarm of Salandy's disappearance.

A close family relative told the Express on Thursday she believed a financial transaction gone awry between a group of Venezuelan citizens and Salandy's Sayfour travel agency, was the cause of Salandy's disappearance. Salandy, 59, had Trinidad and Venezuela dual citizenship.

When contacted yesterday, the relative, who requested anonymity, said she still believed his death was connected to that dispute, because both Salandy and herself received threatening phone calls from the group.

However, police were also working on the theory that Salandy's disappearance was as a result of a drug deal gone wrong. Sources said yesterday that Salandy was deported two years ago, after serving a term in an English jail for drug trafficking.

The relative, who also has dual citizenship with the two countries, was the one who had to identify Salandy's body at the Forensic Science Centre in St James at around noon yesterday. The body was reportedly attired in a blue denim jeans and a grey coloured jersey.

This even as one of Salandy's daughters, Elizabeth, who lives abroad, made an appeal to her father's kidnappers to "have a heart to release him back to his eight children who love him dearly".

The plea was made to his kidnappers through the Express, via an e-mail yesterday.

She added, "He is a diabetic (who) requires his daily dose of insulin."

The family are now considering their next move, as they would like to pay final respects to their deceased father but are too afraid to return to Trinidad.

How dese people so 'bad-lucky', here dey doin an honest livin an people victimizing dem an dey family :roll:

[brag]

I wonder what percentage of the reported crimes as well as what percentage of the convictions in T&T are drug related. Are there any such statistics?

[Huma]

Weird that whenever people imply the same thing about (some) businessmen who are kidnapped in Trinidad, the reaction is one of contempt and dismissal.

[brag]

Without the proper statistics, demographics, analysis, etc., about crime in T&T it is difficult to get a handle on crime and pin point its causes for a proper implementation of any treatment plan. Professor Deosaran says that he has been asking for such statistics for years now, but to no avail. I wonder who is responsible for gathering such statistics. I wonder what is stopping him from collecting such data in his role as a professor of an important department at the UOWI. Can it be lack of funds/grants?

[snowbird]

Weird that whenever people imply the same thing about (some) businessmen who are kidnapped in Trinidad, the reaction is one of contempt and dismissal.

Comeon, in this instance even a blind man can see the red flags 'if' what is being reported is correct:

his relatives received a $300,000 or a half-kilo-of-cocaine ransom demand for his safe return.

Sources said yesterday that Salandy was deported two years ago, after serving a term in an English jail for drug trafficking.

[dancerboy]

Without the proper statistics, demographics, analysis, etc., about crime in T&T it is difficult to get a handle on crime and pin point its causes for a proper implementation of any treatment plan. Professor Deosaran says that he has been asking for such statistics for years now, but to no avail. I wonder who is responsible for gathering such statistics. I wonder what is stopping him from collecting such data in his role as a professor of an important department at the UOWI. Can it be lack of funds/grants?
STATISTICS ARE VERY IMPORTANT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME. It determines the allocation of the resources. If there are more murders in laventille, then you might need a greater 'UNIFORM' police presence. If there are more picpockets in PORT-OF-SPAIN, it might require a greater presence of 'UNDERCOVER POLICE'. If there are more traffic violations, then it might require a greater response in the traffic department.

DANCERBOY

[snowbird]

Without the proper statistics, demographics, analysis, etc., about crime in T&T it is difficult to get a handle on crime and pin point its causes for a proper implementation of any treatment plan. Professor Deosaran says that he has been asking for such statistics for years now, but to no avail. I wonder who is responsible for gathering such statistics. I wonder what is stopping him from collecting such data in his role as a professor of an important department at the UOWI. Can it be lack of funds/grants?
STATISTICS ARE VERY IMPORTANT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME. It determines the allocation of the resources. If there are more murders in laventille, then you might need a greater 'UNIFORM' police presence. If there are more picpockets in PORT-OF-SPAIN, it might require a greater presence of 'UNDERCOVER POLICE'. If there are more traffic violations, then it might require a greater response in the traffic department.

DANCERBOY

Agreed; however with so much crime going unreported in T&T on the one hand; and on the other hand so many people 'crying wolf' (knowing exactly why they were targeted in the first place, but failing to divulge the reason), I imagine it would be hard to gather or depend on statistics.

[kemist]

Without the proper statistics, demographics, analysis, etc., about crime in T&T it is difficult to get a handle on crime and pin point its causes for a proper implementation of any treatment plan. Professor Deosaran says that he has been asking for such statistics for years now, but to no avail. I wonder who is responsible for gathering such statistics. I wonder what is stopping him from collecting such data in his role as a professor of an important department at the UOWI. Can it be lack of funds/grants?

I doubt it would be due to lack of funding, since Prof Deosaran has been asking for the info for years.
It is more likely due to :
Lack of cooperation from the authorities that have that info,
and/or
The data that was recorded within the last few decades are too broad-based, and the specifics stats were not cataloged properly over the years, so they now have to be sorted out of actual case files/police reports etc.

[citizen]

I have learned one or two things about statistics over the years, and I suspect that if attention had been paid to these principles in the past, then we would have been able to draw plausible conclusions and inferences from the crime data collected in T&T.

1. The power of statistics lies in the design and not in the analysis of data.

2. It is better to obtain an approximate answer to the correct question rather than a precise answer to the wrong question. In layman's terms, it is better to be approximately correct than precisely wrong.

3. We should not use statistics like the drunk uses the lamp post, for support rather than illumination.

[Devil]

i like the way you use the term "businessman"

it seems that if any business person gets killed- the current trend by one section of the population is to say that they were "in ting".. well many of these business men and women are leaving and you will ketch your nennen to get a job and live your miserable lives.

[snowbird]

i like the way you use the term "businessman"

it seems that if any business person gets killed- the current trend by one section of the population is to say that they were "in ting".. well many of these business men and women are leaving and you will ketch your nennen to get a job and live your miserable lives.

You may want to re-read the article in the first post of this thread then tell me if you think any more red flags are necessary.
Sounds like he was doing business in Trinidad alright, Monkey Business; based on what was reported, I don't know that I'd want to be any part of that man's business 'organization'

(just my opinion)

[Devil]

why didn't they say "alleged drug dealer" or "Venezuelan national" alone.. there are so many ways do describe the man-- but they chose "businessman" for a reason- government and political propaganda.. its a general trend in Trinidad to paint business people of any kind as corrupt carrying out illegal activities... that is my point!

[snowbird]

^^^
The first story the news media carried on this kidnapping focuse more on the fact that this man who was in the 'travel business' (I think) was kidnapped. The second story however gave a little more detail.

[Devil]

^^^
The first story the news media carried on this kidnapping focuse more on the fact that this man who was in the 'travel business' (I think) was kidnapped. The second story however gave a little more detail.

again my point.. as soon as they can add the term "businessman/woman" they would -- in an almost sarcastic tone. Its no wonder the general population believes that anyone who runs his own business is corrupt and involved in some form of illegal activity.

As soon as you see a man with running a little business (which may be making next to nothing) driving a somewhat expensive looking car (which is partially written off as a business expense because he have to visit his clients to his mother with it) everyone believes he in drugs. And as soon as something happen and the person was the victim of a crime- they quick to insinuate that he/she was involved in crime themselves.

This comes from a number of different areas:
- The Government: To excuse the high crime rate- they would like you to believe that the victims did it to themselves
- The Police: To cover up their own incompetence -- how many time you've heard kidnap and crime victims say that the police treat them as the perpetrator
- The Press: Some reporters do feel a strong affiliation with the police and the government (the law) when dealing with crime stories-- plus conspiracies sell!
- Jealous People: to say that to be successful you have to be involved in illegal activities!-- its an excuse for their own failures!

[Chicabonita]

Wait a minute people...let's not forget Mr. Salandy was in prison for a couple of years in Europe in drug-related charges as well as he had a pending case right here in T&T.

[snowbird]

Wait a minute people...let's not forget Mr. Salandy was in prison for a couple of years in Europe in drug-related charges as well as he had a pending case right here in T&T.

^^^^Exactly;
as to this statement
..... As soon as you see a man with running a little business (which may be making next to nothing) driving a somewhat expensive looking car (which is partially written off as a business expense because he have to visit his clients to his mother with it) everyone believes he in drugs......
It is so preposterous ; yes there are ignorant people (even some involved in law enforcemtnt) who think that way, but thank God there are others who can see the situation for what it is.
With regard to this particular 'Businessman' if what they reported is correct, you'd have to be deaf, dumb, blind and stupid to not figure out what his real business was. :roll: