GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The police have held a Trinidadian man after he reportedly faked his own kidnapping with the help of two other Trinidadians.

The police report that Sawak Maraj, 33,who arrived here on Friday, claiming that he came for a job interview, was picked up at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport by two other Trinidadian nationals, who arrived earlier in the week.

The police say Maraj’s relatives in Trinidad on Friday, received a call from an unknown person who claimed that he had been kidnapped shortly after his arrival and a demand for money was made for his release.

The man’s family also received a photograph that showed Maraj, clad only in his boxer shorts and socks with someone holding a machete to his neck.

The family made contact with the Guyana Police Force and agents from the Police Force’s Major Crimes Unit who reviewed surveillance video at the airport, which showed Maraj greeting the other two Trinidadian nationals and them all boarding the same car without incident.

The agents were able to track down the location of the phone that was used to make the ransom call.

That phone call was traced and members of the Major Crimes Unit rushed to the location where they found Maraj in an apartment, “relaxing and sipping on beverages”.

Assistant Police Commissioner, Paul Williams, told Guyana News Source that the man threw a towel over his face “in a shameful manner”, as the agents moved in.

He said the two other Trinidadian men were found in the apartment.

The police then took Maraj and the other men into police custody.

The Guyana police informed Maraj’s relatives in Trinidad that he was found alive and the kidnapping may have been staged.

Maraj reportedly gave investigators his profession as a chemical engineer, however, reports suggest that the man worked with his family at their real estate business in Trinidad.