Chinese Woman Rescued After Alleged Kidnapping in Thailand

Credit: China Central Television

Caption: Cable ties bound the victim's hands.

Four Thai men have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a Chinese woman from a Bangkok hotel and trying to take her toward Thailand's border with Myanmar, Chinese and Thai authorities said.

Thai police had confirmed the foreign national involved was a Chinese citizen. The woman has been properly accommodated, and the embassy is assisting police as the case remains under further investigation, China Television Station reported today.

The incident happened on August 23, when the 29-year-old woman was allegedly tricked into getting into a black car outside a Bangkok hotel after believing a tour guide had come to pick her up. Thai media reported that she had planned to travel to Singapore for a master's degree and had been persuaded by a social media contact to visit Thailand first.

According to the woman's account to police, the contact was a Chinese person living in Singapore. The two had mainly communicated by phone and online and had never met in person.

After the woman got into the car, three more men were picked up nearby. She then realized she had been deceived and tried to resist and get out, but her phone was taken, her hands were bound with cable ties and she was struck in the mouth with an elbow, according to the reports.

Credit: China Central Television

Caption: The car that the kidnappers drove to pick up the victim

When the car reached Kamphaeng Phet Province and the woman saw a police checkpoint ahead, she shouted for help. The driver then fled the checkpoint. During the escape, the woman opened the car door and jumped out. Police pursued the vehicle and fired at it, puncturing a tire and arresting two suspects at the scene. Two others abandoned the car and fled.

The two suspects first arrested were identified by Thai police as 41-year-old Somkiat and 24-year-old Kittiporn. The other two suspects, aged 41 and 22, were arrested on August 24. One was from Mae Sot and the other from a border area in Tak Province, bringing the total number of arrests to four.

Police said the suspects admitted picking up the woman from a Bangkok hotel and planning to take her to Mae Sot District in Tak Province, a border area near Myanmar.

Police are still searching for the person who allegedly lured the woman and are investigating related networks inside Thailand.