The lumber exporter’s strange abduction

May 20, 2012 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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–    What kind of kidnappers would turn down a $30M ransom?

By Michael Jordan

Maybe it was because he wasn’t well known. Maybe it was because it happened on the same day that the cambio dealer with the glamourous wife wound up dead in his Bel Air home. Maybe it was because of his family’s silence at the time about the whole affair. Whatever the reason, we didn’t take the disappearance of Khemdat Michael Sukhul seriously until the day that…
But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Like I said, Sukhul’s family kept us pressmen at a distance, and it took four years after it all happened for a family member to fill in the blanks about the whole strange affair.
Khemdat Sukhul was a 50-year-old resident of Leonora, West Coast Demerara, who owned a very profitable logging concession in Essequibo. According to the relative, he exported mainly greenheart lumber and also sold logs to another concession.
Sukhul had a sister who lived overseas and owned a property at New Providence, East Bank Demerara. The businessman used the location as an office.
And now for the family’s version of what happened to Khemdat Michael Sukhul.
On the evening of Monday, May 7, 2007, Sukhul, his secretary, and two male employees were at the office when three masked men barged into the building. The victims were unable to tell the men’s ancestry. All they knew was that one was dark in complexion, another brown-skinned, and the third was light-complexioned.
The gunmen reportedly went straight to the businessman and asked whether he was Michael Sukhul. The businessman insisted that he wasn’t Sukhul.
The intruders responded that they knew that he was Sukhul, since they had seen him several times. In fact, they had come looking for him the previous day, but he had already left for home.
The gunmen then proceeded to bind and gag the businessman’s employees. However, they left a knife within the secretary’s reach, and instructed her not to cut her bonds until half an hour had passed.
The gunmen then forced Sukhul into a waiting vehicle and left.
After the 30 minutes had elapsed, Sukhul’s secretary freed herself and the two workers. She then contacted a male relative and informed him about the abduction. He contacted the police, who arrived and took the victims to the Providence Station. From the station, the secretary contacted Sukhul’s mother.
That very night, the phone at Sukhul’s home rang and his mother, Ruby Sukhul, answered.
The caller identified himself as one of the kidnappers and said that he wanted $30M in exchange for her son’s release. He gave the family a one-week deadline to hand over the cash. Sukhul’s relatives were warned not to contact the police.
However, the relatives informed the police about the call. The Anti-Kidnapping ranks visited the New Providence premises from which Sukhul had been snatched. They also searched a few homes, but failed to find any trace of the missing man.
On Tuesday, May 8, 2007, the persons claiming to be the kidnappers contacted the family again. Between then and Wednesday, May 9, 2007, the kidnappers contacted the family about eight more times.
On some occasions, they phoned Sukhul’s relatives who lived overseas. When the relatives pleaded for time to withdraw the cash from a bank, the kidnappers, apparently believing that the family was stalling, began telling them that Sukhul had the cash stashed in a safe in his house.
And indeed, there was a safe in one of the bedrooms, but that safe, when opened, only contained documents.
When the kidnappers called on Thursday, May 10, 2007, the family members disclosed that they only had a part of the ransom, and pleaded for one more day to raise the rest. The kidnappers agreed, and informed the relatives that they would call at 09:00 hrs the following day. They even allowed Sukhul to speak to his family. Sukhul reportedly informed them that he was alright and was being taken care of.
That Friday, as promised, the kidnappers called again. This time, they allowed Khemdat Sukhul to speak to his mother. She was celebrating her birthday that very day and Khemdat wished her well. He informed her that he had been blindfolded by his abductors and taken to a house, but had no idea where the building was located. Sukhul also reassured his mother that he would be home soon.
The family then informed the callers that they finally had the complete ransom. They asked for instructions about dropping the money off. The answer shocked them.
The caller informed the family that they no longer wanted the ransom. Money or no money, Khemdat Sukhul had to die. He had seen too much. The family received no more calls.
At around 01:30 hrs on Saturday, May 12, 2007, some residents of Unity, Mahaica, saw a green-coloured minibus turn into Cremation Road. After a few minutes, the occupants in the vehicle switched off the lights and drove away.
Shortly after, residents living nearby heard cries of “help…help…”
Those who dared to venture to the scene were shocked to see a man lying in a clump of bushes on the roadside. The victim was barefoot. He had a gaping wound behind the head, another to one of his shoulders, and the tendons at the back of one of his ankles had been severed.
The badly injured man managed to tell the villagers his name. He was Khemdat Michael Sukhul.
He told the villagers that he was being killed for his land and money.
The residents contacted the police, who transported him to the Georgetown Public Hospital. At around 05:00 hrs, Khemdat Sukhul passed away.
The police would later reveal that although Sukhul was “fully conscious” when rescued, the ranks were unable to get any useful information from him about the identity of his kidnappers.
At the time Sukhul had been found, he was wearing two shirts and a jersey along with dark pants. He had not been wearing the two shirts at the time of his abduction.
The police said that five persons had been arrested after investigators had traced one of the calls the kidnappers had made.
A hire-car driver suspected of transporting the kidnappers was among those detained. They got nowhere with that lead and the driver was eventually released.
The person to whom the phone was registered was also detained. During interrogation, the individual claimed that he had bought the phone for someone else. When contacted, the owner of the phone claimed that he had misplaced the device. Investigators were convinced that he had nothing to do with the kidnapping. Eventually, all the suspects were released.
So, who kidnapped Khemdat Sukhul? Why did the abductors refuse to collect the ransom? Why did they release the badly-wounded businessman, instead of killing him?
The relative who spoke with me suspects that a woman who was a close friend of Sukhul’s played a key role in his abduction. One of the things that puzzles the relative is that the callers could describe the inside of the family’s house, which the woman often visited.
And why was Sukhul targeted?
The relative suggested that perhaps someone wanted to get their hands on the businessman’s logging concession, which the family lost after he died. A pontoon of logs that Sukhul had planned to sell mysteriously vanished after he was murdered.
But investigators may still have one vital clue.
An overseas relative that the killers contacted is said to have recorded the voice of one of the kidnappers. A copy of the recording was reportedly given to local investigators.
“I am still hoping for justice,” the relative who spoke to me said.
“He (Sukhul) never interfered with anyone. He was a religious person.”

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 22-58452, 22-58458 and 22-58465. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].

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