–accomplices on the run, blacklisted at airports here, in Trinidad

THE 33-year-old Trinidad national who faked his own kidnapping here in Guyana and demanded US$700,000 from his relatives back home, was on Tuesday remanded to prison.
Sawak Maraj appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates Court for giving the police wrong information and conspiracy to commit a felony.

He now has until November 16, when he makes another court appearance, to seriously evaluate his silly actions.
Particulars of the charge allege that on October 27, at Georgetown, Maraj knowingly gave false information to the police, stating that he was kidnapped and his abductors demanded US$700,000 for his release.
It is alleged that Maraj, on the same day and while at the Madewini Resort on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, conspired with two other persons to assist with negotiations to obtain the ransom.

An attorney who appeared for Maraj told the court that his client is not a flight risk, and would stay in Guyana at the Marriott Hotel if granted bail.
But Police Prosecutor, Arwin Moore objected to his being released on bail, on the ground that the accused is not a Guyanese national.
Moore further said that Maraj’s accomplices who assisted him in staging the kidnapping are on the run from the police, and have been blacklisted at the airports here and in Trinidad.
It was in light of the objections raised by the prosecutor that the Chief Magistrate remanded Maraj until November 16.

A report from the police stated that Maraj arrived in Guyana last Friday, claiming that he came for a job interview and was picked up at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport by two other Trinidadian nationals, who had arrived in the country earlier in the week.
Later the same day, Maraj’s relatives in Trinidad reportedly received a call from an unknown person claiming to have kidnapped Maraj shortly after his arrival, and demanding that a ransom be paid for his release.

The man’s family was also sent a photograph showing him clad only in his boxers and socks with one of his alleged abductors holding a cutlass to his neck.
The Guyana Police Force and agents from the Force’s Major Crimes Unit, after being contacted by the man’s family in Trinidad, immediately sprang into action and reviewed surveillance video at the airport. The viewed recording showed Maraj greeting his supposed abductors, these being the other two Trinidadian nationals, and boarding a taxi without incident.

Aided by the surveillance tapes, the investigators were also able to track down the taxi driver who transported the men from the airport, and to trace the call that was made to demand the ransom that gave them the location of the phone from which it was made.
Armed with such vital information, the agents then hurried to the location where they found Maraj, the supposedly kidnapped victim, in an apartment, “relaxing and sipping on beverages.”