Chinese woman missing in Bangkok may have been kidnapped

Officials at Bangkok’s Phra Khanong police station said they had been notified that a 27-year-old Chinese woman named Lu Xinlei had disappeared while visiting the city. 

Police said Lu’s father had asked a Thai man to contact him concerning his daughter's possible abduction. 

Police said Lu arrived in Thailand as a tourist on June 5 and stayed in a hotel in Bangkok’s Phaya Thai area before moving to another hotel in On Nut subdistrict. 

Officials said that around 6pm on Friday, Lu’s father received a call from a man via the WeChat application asking him to pay him 25 million baht after which his daughter would be freed and sent to Shanghai. 

But police reached out to the hotel in On Nut and found from its CCTV that Lu left the hotel alone around 3pm on Friday. 

Police also said that the Thai man, according to Lu’s father, told them Lu had bought a plane ticket and would fly to Singapore at 8.25 on Friday. 

Police said they checked with the Tourist Police Bureau and found that Lu had not yet flown out of Thailand. 

Police say an investigation is now under way.