Police hunting for 3 Chinese students held for ransom in Myanmar

POLICE are working out ways to track down and bring back three Chinese students who were tricked into going to Myanmar and are now being held for ransom there, TV Channel 3’s 3PlusNews said this evening (Oct. 21).

Pol. Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, ordered his deputy, Pol. Maj. Gen. Noppasin Poolsawat, and Pol. Col. Boonroj Lojaya, superintendent of the Thammasala police station, to hold a meeting and solve this kidnapping for three Chinese from a well-known university in Thonburi side of Bangkok.

They were identified as Mr. Yu, 20, Mr. Chi, 20 and Ms. Sun, 18.

At 5 p.m. yesterday a lecturer from this university filed a complaint at Thammasala police station that a first-year Chinese student, Mr. Lee, had contacted him via WeChat app to report that his three Chinese friends were being held for ransom.

All he knew was that the three of them were travelling to deliver unknown items to an unidentified person and were to be paid for doing so.

Later his friends told him that they needed 300,000 yuan, approximately 1.5 million baht, to pay the ransom and to send this money to their location, which was in Myanmar. They added that if the ransom was not paid the three of them would be taken to KK Park.

KK Park is a fraud factory located in Myawaddy next to the Moei river on the Myanmar–Thailand border. The complex is a major hub of Internet fraud and human trafficking, Wikipedia said.

Upon being questioned by the police, Lee said he spoke over the phone to one of the three kidnapped fellow students but was not sure who it was. This person mentioned crossing the Moei river to Myanmar to deliver the items.

Then at 9 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 19) he received a message from his friends to transfer 1.5 million baht ransom. As they were in danger he decided to contact the police.

Pol. Maj. Gen. Noppasin said he will personally attend a follow-up meeting at 11 a.m. tomorrow and initially has set up an investigation team and coordinated with the Immigration Bureau and other relevant agencies to urgently track down and help the three Chinese students.

CAPTION:

Thai police holding a meeting on the kidnapping of three Chinese students. Photo: 3Plus News

This report originally appeared at www.thainewsroom.com

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