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Guyanese mom fears the worst for son missing in Suriname
Missing: Antonio Lall
A young mason, who left his East Bank Demerara (EBD) home and ventured to Suriname to secure a job, has been reported missing by his mother.
The mother said she has not heard from her son since December last.
Reports are that 20-year-old Antonio Kishore Lall (Avinash) of the New Grove Housing Scheme, EBD, migrated to Suriname during May, 2011 to find employment.
He would usually telephone his family twice per month and the last contact he made was on Christmas last.
Moonzalene Baksh, the young man’s mother, told Kaieteur News that Lall was employed with the Geddes Grant Company and subsequently left.
He then worked the family’s car as a taxi but also left this job.
A few months later he told his mother that he wished to visit Suriname with “a lady” who would help him find shelter and employment.
Trusting her son’s good judgment, she agreed to the proposal, despite being unable to meet the woman who was taking Lall to Suriname.
Baksh said that since his arrival into the country, her son would contact her on a regular basis.
“He told me how he was doing masonry and living with some boys there and everything was fine.
“Every two weeks time he would call since he left in May. During Christmas week last year he called four days in a row and on Christmas day he tell me he want to come back home.
“I told him get his passport up and when he get the passage that he should come back. His uncle say he would get back the car to drive as taxi again,” said the distraught mother.
Kaieteur News understands that during the weekend before school re-opened in January 2012, when Baksh and a relative were in Georgetown, they decided to call him.
They wanted to determine if and when he was returning to Guyana. However, they were in for a surprise.
When Lall’s mother dialed his cellular number in Suriname another male with an accent answered the phone in Dutch.
Baksh stated that she identified herself as Lall’s mother and asked to speak with him.
“It was a Dutch person but when I speak in English he reply. I ask him for my son and said I want to speak with him. He said he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. I ask him how he get my son phone and he say he don’t know and hang up the phone. This was the Saturday before school open, and Monday when school open I went to Foreign Affairs Ministry and reported the matter. A woman there said they’d contact the Consulate there and they’d take out a search warrant for my son,” added Baksh.
She further explained that two weeks had passed and she decided to visit the said Ministry after receiving no feedback.
The staff unfortunately had not received an answer from Suriname other than that the search was continuing.
This newspaper understands that Baksh then made preparations to visit Suriname and assist in the search efforts.
“I reach Nickerie in Suriname the Wednesday, and the officials tell me they expected me since the day before, but I told them I couldn’t make it.
“One police call the number and gaff with the boy who answer the phone and then down in the conversation tell he that he is a friend of Avinash and want speak with him.
“The Dutch person who had my son phone say he don’t know anyone. The police then tell him that he is police and ask where he get the phone from. The reply was from in the market and he cut off the phone and didn’t answer back.”
According to Baksh, she is frustrated since she has returned to Guyana, and still no response from anywhere as to the location of her son.
She fears the worst since it is unlikely that her son would not have contacted his family by now.
While breaking down in tears, Baksh continued to explain that Lall had been complaining just before his “disappearance” that he was having trouble with one of the men he was living with. When she tried to contact the number of the woman who took her son to Suriname the number keeps ringing out.
“I don’t even know her name. When I was in Suriname I gave photos of my son and left with people in the market and all over. I went on their news there too. My son said that before people terrorize him it is better for him to come back. He was getting some problem with he roommate there. I just want my son back. His father left since he was six years old and I’ve been both mother and father to him,” cried the mother.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of this young man, his relatives are asking that contact be made with the nearest police station, or his relatives on the following numbers: 222-4933, 222-4553, 266-0577, 216-1572 or his mother’s cell number, 609-6823.
(Kristen Macklingam)
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