Police are expected to meet with the wife of missing Brazilian expatriate Odair Lins, who flew into Trinidad earlier this week to assist with investigations into his disappearance.
Yesterday marked 15 days since Lins, an electrician with Brazilian firm Construtora OAS, went missing. According to Brazilian media, Lins’ wife Marcia Aparecida Martins Lopes said he and other colleagues were being threatened by local workers who were retrenched by the company earlier this year.
“He told me they were suffering threats from people who live there and work together, the firm was not hitting the salary, I do not know whether it is salary or hit the dismissal of staff, that is sending everyone away but they were unhappy in a matter of money,” Lopes told a Brazilian news agency last week.
Meanwhile, Region III Homicide Bureau, San Fernando CID and the Anti Kidnapping Unit are continuing their investigations, but are yet to find a solid lead into his disappearance. Lins, 55, stayed in an apartment on Coney Street, Gulf View, La Romaine. A report stated that around 5.30 am on June 8, he went to turn on a water pump at Mosquito Creek where work had stalled on the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension Project that his firm was working on.
However, he failed to return to the company’s Golconda base for work and was not at home when his colleagues checked. A report was made to San Fernando police and a search was made throughout the mangroves along the creek, but without success.
The following night, South Western Division Task Force was on patrol along Quinam Road, Siparia where they came across Lins’ silver Mazda BT-50 pick-up truck, registration TCT 5301, parked in a lonely area. The officers found blood on the inside of the driver’s side door. Several searches were made in the forested area where the pick-up truck was found but there was no sign of Lins.
Nicknamed “Nigeo,” Lins is described as five feet four inches tall, of light brown complexion, with black curly hair, clean shaven face, brown eyes and a broad nose.