Where is Derek Aikman? That is the question everyone is asking tonight after the politician turned activist and referendum organizer was allegedly kidnapped yesterday. At 4 in the afternoon, Aikman left his home on the Burrell Boom Road to attend choir practice in Hattieville. At about 8:30 he called his wife Kim Aikman and told her that he had been kidnapped. She also received a ransom note, with letters cut out of a calendar saying that Aikman would be harmed if the government enacts the BTL Vesting Bill.

It is an unprecedented event and it seems no one knows quite what to make of it but this evening police are taking it very seriously. They have three teams deployed looking for him. His family is not granting media interviews, but his colleagues from the Good Covenant Movement say they are very concerned.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This is the vehicle Derek Aikman was driving when he was allegedly kidnapped. Last night Aikman called his wife and told her he was being held captive and also where he had left the vehicle on the Burrell Boom Road near Fresh Pond. He wasn't heard from again until this morning when he called into the KREM W.U.B. Morning Show.

From KREM W.U.B. Morning Show:

Mose Hyde: We have a call from Mr. Aikman. Good morning. Hello?
Derek Aikman: Hello.
Mose Hyde: Mr. Aikman have you been released?
Derek Aikman: They will take the phone from me. I only have two minutes right. I just need to tell my wife and kids that I love them and if she could please ask Dr. Godinez to say something that I need to have, my thyroid medication because they are not giving me any food, only water and I need my thyroid medication. I am not afraid and I am not frightened. But the bottom line Mose is they are saying that if they pass the BTL thing, they are going to kill me. I don't know where I am, they have me blindfolded. I traveled probably about an hour by car, by vehicle, whatever after they captured me. I don't know where I am. Only one of the persons is talking, the other two aren't talking.
Kalilah Enriquez: You're saying they do talk or they don't talk?

The phone call ended abruptly. His colleagues in the Belize Covenant Movement, Dianne Finnegan and Moses Sulph, say Aikman may have been targeted because of his ad hoc referenda held recently.

Moses Sulph, Belize Covenant Movement
"We are basically appealing to those who are responsible for Mr. Aikman to please allow him to get back to his family and his life because he has children and this is very devastating for his children and his wife and also for us as members of the Covenant Movement."

Keith Swift,
But why would they target Derek Aikman?

Dianne Finnegan, Belize Covenant Movement
"I think the effect that his initiative had on creating such a massive outpour of the Belizean people at the polling stations just a couple of weeks says it all."

At a press conference this morning, UDP leader Dean Barrow expressed his concern over Aikman's disappearance.

Hon. Dean Barrow,
"All of us clearly must, I think we are all in shock about something of that nature happening and we clearly have to feel not just for Mr. Aikman but for his family. But I certainly hope that there can be a happy ending to what currently appears to be a most distressing, almost unprecedented situation."

Aikman also called Love FM and reportedly made another call to his daughter. At newstime, Aikman was still missing and we note that the Senate did pass the BTL Vesting Bill this afternoon. All that's left is for the Governor General to sign it into law. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Derek Aikman is asked to contact the nearest police station or call Crime Stoppers at 0-800-922-TIPS.