By FELICIA RAMPERSAD Wednesday, June 11 2008

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KIDNAPPED: Naail Ali, 26...

NAAIL ALI, 26, was kidnapped outside his family’s Gasparillo hardware at about 8.45 am yesterday by three armed men and up to late yesterday, no ransom was demanded and Ali’s whereabouts remained a mystery.

Newsday was told by police sources that Ali had just opened the family business — A&S Hardware and Furniture Store — when he was attacked by three gunmen who bundled him into a nearby station wagon and sped off.

It was reported that the car was seen speeding along Caratal Road and then through Quarry Road in Gasparillo. Friends and relatives gathered at the family’s business place in Bonne Aventure Road, Gasparillo, while police officers combed the area for the car in which Ali was abducted. Relatives refused to speak to reporters who gathered outside the house. A friend of the family said the kidnapping had left both the family and friends in shock. “My son and Naail are friends. My son was in the bathroom and when he heard of the kidnapping, he just ran out and organised some friends to go looking for Naail,” the man said.

Officers from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad are spearheading investigations into what is the country’s eighth kidnapping for the year. Ali is the son of Aassen and Sherry Ali.