PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP): THE RECENT kidnapping of a gas station owner for ransom has led Trinidad and Tobago's business community to impose their own security measures for their families, a businessman said yesterday.
Kenneth Medford, president of the Petroleum Dealers Association, was held by kidnappers for five days and released Friday when his family paid Trinidadian $325,000 (US 49,000) to his kidnappers, police said.
Businessmen in Trinidad are meeting this week to discuss how to improve security for their families and property, gas station owner Rohan Roopnarine said Sunday. He said they had not yet set a date for the meeting, and were also asking to meet with the police commissioner.
"Me and my family are observing certain security measures to ensure neither of us suffers the same fate," Roopnarine said, adding that many other businessmen also were imposing family curfews and other ways to stay safe. He did not want to be specific.
Businessmen, especially those in the expanding retail communities in south and central Trinidad, are "fearful and not taking any chances," he said.
Retail merchants in downtown Port of Spain have also been hit in the past month by dozens of night-time robberies on their stores.
Medford's kidnapping was eighth this year, though police said the other seven were associated with rival drug gangs fighting each other.
Medford owns a number of gas stations mainly in central Trinidad.
The Minister of National Security said it would install security cameras to monitor the 12 main blocks in the capital's business centre.
Over the last three months, the ministry has arrested more than 400 people in early morning and midnight raids throughout the country.
National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee said the murder rate between February and April dropped 14 percent, compared with the same period last year.
The ministry also plans to target the drug trade, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of criminal activity, Lee said.
