Tyri­co Bay has been used by kid­nap­pers as a dump­ing site, pick up point and es­cape route this month alone, cre­at­ing a sense of fear in the com­mu­ni­ty.

The ten­sion in the Mara­cas Vil­lage com­mu­ni­ty has height­ened in the wake of the kid­nap­ping of San Juan busi­ness­woman Tara Po­li­ah, af­ter res­i­dents learned the sus­pects used the beach as a stag­ing area to take her to Venezuela be­fore they were in­ter­cept­ed at sea by the T&T Coast Guard.

Mara­cas res­i­dent Di­anne Ghany yes­ter­day called on the pow­ers that be to po­lice the beach at night.