At least five persons were involved in last Saturday’s kidnapping of US diplomat Stephen Lesniak and a notorious wanted man is believed to have been the mastermind and collected the ransom.
Sources say that at one stage Lesniak was paraded in front of some villagers in Buxton with a gun to his head. Since Lesniak’s kidnapping, a number of officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrived in the country and they are conducting investigations along with other US-based investigators. Lesniak is expected to leave the country shortly, sources say.
Two teenagers kidnapped the 35-year-old Lesniak last Saturday while he was playing golf at the Lusignan Golf Course on the East Coast Demerara. He was the first of two persons snatched that day. School of the Nations student Roy Bell, 16, was kidnapped some hours after Lesniak, but was killed and dumped on the East Coast Public Road on Monday night after his parents had paid a ransom.
Information reaching Stabroek News yesterday stated that five persons as well as a notorious wanted man were actually involved in Lesniak’s kidnapping. The diplomat was taken to Buxton where he was held in several places, including a church on Company Road. Sources told this newspaper, that Lesniak was moved at least three times while the police and military carried out cordon and search exercises.
Reports state also that the kidnapping was not a chance happening, since, according to sources, the kidnappers told Lesniak that they knew “only rich people does play golf”. Ransom of an undisclosed amount was paid by friends of Lesniak to secure his release.
Since Lesniak’s and Bell’s kidnapping last Saturday, one other person was snatched on Monday; and on Tuesday, two men attempted to kidnap a young businesswoman. Also on Tuesday night, bandits terrorized a Coldingen family and contemplated taking a child hostage after they had taken all the family’s valuables.
The child was eventually left behind after the bandits reasoned that the family might not have anything more to give.