Immigration officer said to be involved in kidnapping of tourist
A Thai Immigration Police officer was allegedly involved in the abduction of a 39-year-old woman at Suvarnabhumi Airport on the night of May 6 for a Bt15 million ransom, Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-General Surachate Hakparn said on Monday.
The victim, identified as Jincai Chen, was abducted by five people upon her arrival from Hong Kong but was safely released to a roadside spot in Bang Na district 14 days later.
Four Chinese people, a Thai woman named Wansikan Termthanapat and several other people were involved in the crime, including an unnamed Pol Senior Sergeant Major policeman under the Samut Prakan Immigration Police Office, Surachate said.
Police are seeking arrest warrants but the four Chinese suspects – Wenqui Sun, Ming Song, Dongliang Sun and Meiling Kai – had already fled Thailand, Surachate added.
The gang demanded three million yuan (Bt15 million) for ransom but the victim’s Korean husband, Han Young Lim, who holds Tanzanian nationality, paid just 1.9 million yuan (Bt10 million). When they failed to release Chen, he filed a police complaint on May 18.
CCTV footage helped police identify the five kidnappers and a further probe found that they had detained the woman at a Bangkok hotel.
They then moved her to a rented house in Pattaya City, then another house on Koh Samet in Rayong and another hotel in Bangkok.
At 11pm on May 19, apparently feeling pressure from the investigation, the kidnappers released the victim at a roadside spot on Bang Na-Trat Road before fleeing.The woman contacted her husband and went to testify to police about what happened, Surachate said.
