Five charged with kidnapping landlady Tara Poliah

Five men have been charged with the kidnapping of 73-year-old landlady Tara Poliah, who was abducted from her San Juan home in March and was being transported by boat to Venezuela.

The accused, Hakeem Amzad Ali, Hector Jimenez, Reynaldo Alexander Martinez, John Evans, and Johniken Gonzales, are currently held at the Golden Grove Prison under preventive detention orders (PDOs). Officers from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit formally laid the charges after receiving legal advice.

Poliah was confronted by four men in her garage on March 25 and forced into a vehicle. By midnight, the kidnappers had moved her to a boat, intending to flee the country. However, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, acting on radar intelligence, intercepted the vessel approximately one nautical mile off the North Coast, rescuing Poliah unharmed.

During the interception, several suspects were apprehended. Authorities later confirmed eight individuals were on board the vessel, including six Venezuelan nationals and two Trinidad and Tobago citizens. In a separate incident, two additional suspects attempted to evade capture by jumping into the sea but were rescued by a fisherman and handed over to the Coast Guard.

Preventive detention orders issued in April identified 12 individuals involved in a kidnapping enterprise, including the five now charged. These PDOs alleged coordinated operations with cross-border elements, identifying some as facilitators, drivers, coordinators, and principal participants in kidnappings. Reynaldo Alexander Martinez was the only one of the five charged individuals listed with a Venezuelan address.