Pol. Maj. Gen. Noppasin Poolsawat, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the gang of kidnappers included Thais and they were being tracked down and prosecuted. He is confident this incident would not affect Thai tourism as this is only a small criminal gang.
The three students, Mr. Chi, 18, Mr. Yu, 20, and Ms. Sun, 18, are studying at a well-known university on the Thonburi side of Bangkok with their friends and a lecturer alerting Thammasala police station that they had been kidnapped.
They told police that they had been looking for work while waiting for the new semester to start and were contacted by a friend that they would be paid 100,000 baht to carry goods from Mae Sot to Bangkok and agreed to do so without knowing what the goods were.
On Oct. 17 they flew from Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok to Mae Sot town arriving there at 10.30 a.m. and then went to stay at a resort. At 5 p.m. a car came and took the three of them to a narrow channel opposite Phop Phra district. Then at 9 p.m. their friend got a message that they had been kidnapped and were being held at an office in Myanmar so contacted a lecturer and police.
The victims related that they were held by six to seven men, three of whom were armed and threatened to harm them. They were told to contact their parents to transfer 300,000 yuan, or 1.5 million baht, ransom if not they would be sent to a call centre gang.
Ms. Sun contacted her mother who transferred 100,000 yuan, or approximately 470,000 baht, but the other two were also released without any money being transferred with police finding them walking a forest in Mae Sot.
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Top and Front Page: The three Chinese students walking down a road.
Insert: The police team that searched for and found the students. Photos: Amarin TV
This report originally appeared at www.thainewsroom.com
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