A Chinese tourist landed at Bangkok’s busy Suvarnabhumi airport on May 6, only to be ambushed by a dangerous gang which ushered her through the security checks and abducted her from the airport without anyone noticing anything wrong.
The shocking incident, captured on CCTV cameras, show that the two kidnappers held the frightened tourist by her arm from the moment she stepped off the plane till she was pushed into a van waiting outside the airport. Three other gang members and one security officer was also involved in the abduction.
Ambushed at Thai Airport
A Chinese woman was abducted from a busy airport in Thailand after her flight from Hongkong landed in Bangkok on May 6
None of the passengers travelling on the flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok noticed anything strange when one Chinese tourist on board, named Jincai Chen, was encircled by a gang of kidnappers who started following her as soon as she stepped off the plane.
The 39-year-old kidnapping victim was soon approached by two of the gang members who grabbed her arms and quietly led her through the security check post, where an officer who was also involved in the kidnapping awaited the group.
The CCTV footage that emerged after the incident showed another man in red shirt walking ahead of Jincai whereas two more men and one woman dressed in black joined the gang as it approached the luggage carousel. All men involved in the abduction were identified as Chinese whereas the woman was thai, according to the police evidence gathered from the airport CCTV footage.
10 Million Baht Ransom
After collecting her luggage from the carousel, the five gang members led Chen to a van waiting outside the airport. A few hours after the abduction, the kidnappers contacted Chen’s husband, Han, to demand a ransom of 10 million baht – almost $ 310,000 – in return for his wife’s freedom.
However, the gang refused to let the woman go even after receiving the money and asked for another 5 million baht. The husband refused to send any more money and called the police instead to report his wife’s kidnapping.
After a few days, the gang decided to release Jincai Chen by drugging and then dumping her by the side of the road in Bangkok’s Bang Na district. The 39-year-old was found by the police on May 19 – 13 days after she was kidnapped at the airport.
The kidnappers fled out of country after dumping Chen by an abandoned road in Bangkok’s Bang Na district on May 19
Surachate Hakparn, the Police Major in charge of the case investigation, revealed that the Thai woman involved in the kidnapping was named Wansikan Termthanapat and belonged to Pattaya whereas the other four Chinese people had been following Chen for days before her trip to Thailand and had boarded the flight from Hongkong to Bangkok with her.
Arrest Warrants Issued
Hakparn also said that 10 other locals including an Immigration Police Officer were also involved in the kidnapping, although most of the gang members have now fled to different parts of the world.
The police Major said that he has identified all of the kidnappers and issued warrants for their arrests, even though none of the Chinese members are in Thailand anymore. Hakparn was informed about the abduction on May 18 after Han issued a complaint. The millionaire husband is a Tanzanian national with Korean and Chinese origin.
In his complaint, Han told the police that the kidnappers initially asked him for 10 million baht but refused to let his wife go even after receiving the ransom. After filing the missing persons report, the police obtained the footage from CCTV cameras inside the airport to track the kidnappers.
Most of the suspects fled to different cities of Thailand after dumping Chen on May 19 just before midnight, and later booked flights to other countries.
Investigation team said that the gang members were pressured to release the 39-year-old kidnapping victim after Han tipped off the Thai police on May 18. An intense search operation was launched in Bangkok just a day before Chen was found by the side of a road.
The police are currently in the process of collecting statements from the Chinese couple. Meanwhile, the investigation team will continue to hunt down the gang members who took millions of baht in ransom and disappeared from Thailand.
