Trinidad and Tobago police have launched a search for a senior employee of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies UWI), who was snatched from the compound of the university on Wednesday.
Police said that Maria Dass who lives in Central Trinidad, was accosted by three men who forced her into a vehicle as she was about to enter her own vehicle.
Dass is the Commercialization Manager at the Office of Institutional Advancement and Internationalization at The UWI and media reports said that the men who kidnapped her wore army and police uniforms.
The kidnappers are reported to have fired several gunshots as an alarm had been raised when the incident occurred.
Police have since described the men as armed and dangerous.
Last month, several students protested the security situation at the campus resulting in the arrest of two students and a promise by the university’s administration to improve the situation.
President of the UWI’s Guild Darrion Narine told the Express newspaper Wednesday that students and others were shell shocked that such a crime could happen on the campus.
“We are very disheartened. It goes to show the extent of the situation outside there that has spilled over again into the campus community,” he said.
The UWI issued a brief statement Wednesday indicating that the gate closed to where the incident occurred had been closed but made no mention of the abduction.