Kamphaeng Phet — The background to the abduction of a Chinese woman from a hotel in the heart of Bangkok has been revealed: she was stuffed into a car with her hands tied and was about to be transported to the Mae Sot border, after a Chinese friend based in Singapore tricked her into stopping over in Thailand first. Meanwhile, Kamphaeng Phet police tracked down and arrested the entire abduction gang, who turned out to be three people from Mae Sot and one from Phop Phra.
New developments in the case: four Thai men brazenly abducted a young Chinese woman, binding her hands with cable ties and forcing her into a black Nissan Teana sedan, licence plate ฎฉ 578 Bangkok, as it left a hotel in Bangkok, with the intention of forcing her across to Mae Sot District, Tak Province.
However, along the way the vehicle encountered a Kamphaeng Phet police checkpoint, and the suspects sped through it, abandoning their victim by pushing her out of the moving car on Ratchadamnoen Road, Nai Mueang Subdistrict, Mueang Kamphaeng Phet District. The victim then ran for help and knocked on the door of a hair salon near a red-light intersection, prompting good-natured citizens and officers from Mueang Kamphaeng Phet Police Station to come to her assistance in the early hours of 23 August.
Subsequently, Police Colonel Somkasem Charak, Superintendent of Mueang Kamphaeng Phet Police Station, ordered patrol officers to give chase and intercept the suspects' vehicle without delay. The perpetrators drove through the checkpoint in front of Chulalongkorn box junction without any regard for the law, prompting officers to pursue them all the way to Lan Dok Mai Subdistrict, where they fired to stop the target vehicle until its tyres burst and it could go no further.
The suspects then abandoned the car and fled on foot into roadside forest. Officers were able to immediately apprehend two of the Thai suspects: Somkiat, aged 41, and Kittiphon, aged 24, both of whom are residents of Mae Sot District. The remaining two managed to escape at that time.
As of today (24 August), officers from the Kamphaeng Phet Provincial Criminal Investigation Unit were able to track down and arrest the two remaining fugitives, who had been hiding inside Wat Kalpapruek, Lan Dok Mai Subdistrict, Mueang Kamphaeng Phet District. They were subsequently identified as Suchat, aged 41, a resident of Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict, Mae Sot District, Tak Province, and Kittisak, aged 22, a resident of Khiri Rat Subdistrict, Phop Phra District, Tak Province.
The young Chinese victim is currently in the care of officers while further questioning is conducted. Preliminary reports indicate that she was deceived by a fellow Chinese national residing in Singapore, who told her to stop over and visit Thailand first, promising that a car would come to pick her up — after which she was abducted by all four suspects.
In questioning all of the suspects, they admitted to having been hired, to having planned, and to having arranged to pick up the young Chinese woman and deliver her to the border in Mae Sot District. However, their statements remain inconsistent regarding who performed which role and who was responsible for harming the tourist.
