THE bodies found in a burning car in Arima yesterday are likely those of cousins Jerome and Dale Ramsahai.

And police are investigating whether the killings are linked to threats made to a family member several years ago.

Dental and DNA matching will have to be done to confirm the identities, but for the relatives of the Ramsahai cousins, they are already convinced.

The burnt-out car is a Nissan Tiida, the same type of vehicle owned by Jerome Ramsahai.

The cousins, who were last heard from on Thursday evening, did not show up for work yesterday, and could not be contacted by cellphone.

And at the homes of the men at Seuradge Trace, Debe, last evening, the screams of their mothers could be heard, as they were consoled by family and friends gathering for the wake.

The men both worked in Port of Spain and shared an apartment at Victoria Square, Port of Spain.

Jerome Ramsahai, 27, is a loans officer at Scotiabank's headquarters in Port of Spain, and Dale Ramsahai, 28, is an information technology co-ordinator with the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries.

The men left Debe Sunday night to drive into Port of Spain where they stayed during the week. It was the last time relatives saw them.

Shortly after midnight yesterday, police were called to the Heights of Guanapo, Arima, following an anonymous tip that a car was on fire. When the fire was extinguished, the bodies were found in the trunk, wrapped in barbed wire.

Relatives knew nothing until noon yesterday when State-owned Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) reported the discovery in its midday news, and named the men.

Jerome Ramsahai's sister, attorney Liana Ramsahai, is the deputy chairman of CNMG.

In July 2010, Liana Ramsahai reported to police a death threat that mentioned Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Liana told police that she was leaving the Hall of Justice and walking along St Vincent Street on the morning of July 20 when a man approached and said, "Tell the Prime Minister, yuh family, the day she auction and sell we property, we go finish what we start in 1990 and we go surprise she."

The man, who left in a car, was referring to the failed 1990 coup staged by the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen.

In September 2009, the High Court ruled the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen had to pay the State more than $42 million.

In August 2010, after Attorney General Anand Ramlogan signalled his intention to enforce the judgment, ten properties belonging to the Jamaat were auctioned, and the State recovered $5 million.

Persad-Bissessar later made mention of the threat, saying her Government would not be intimidated. No one was ever held for the threat.

Liana, who was screened as a candidate for the Oropouche West seat in 2010, could not be contacted for comment yesterday. She was at the Forensic Science Centre yesterday.

However, another sister, Alicia Jagmohan, when asked by the Express about the possibility of a political link, said: "I do not believe there is a political link. These days we do not have to have a reason to be killed."

Jagmohan said that even if her sister had received a threat, "that was more than two years ago. Our family had no reason to live in fear. We went about our day-to-day business as normal citizens".

At the home of the men yesterday, relatives said the cousins were inseparable.

Dale Ramsahai's sister, Kelly Ann Ramsahai, said "they were always very close growing up. They were always doing stuff together because we lived next door to each other".

Dale Ramsahai, a University of the West Indies graduate, had a master's degree in telecommunications.

Jerome Ramsahai was pursuing a master's and was engaged to be married.

The Express was told the fathers of both men spoke with them on the telephone on Thursday afternoon to arrange a family cricket match this weekend.