The Immigration Bureau has arrested four police officers and a civilian accused of kidnapping five Chinese nationals and extorting 300,000 baht from each of them in Sa Kaeo province.
The incident occurred in Wang Somboon district when the suspects apprehended the five Chinese nationals, claiming they had entered the country illegally. The victims were travelling in a vehicle with a Thai driver in the middle of the night.
Instead of taking them to a police station for legal proceedings, the suspects allegedly took the victims to an isolated house in a forested area in tambon Wang Mai.
The victims were reportedly handcuffed and threatened with violence unless they paid US$10,000 each -- equivalent to about 300,000 baht per person. Two of the victims, identified as Ding Zhengfei and Ren De, each transferred cryptocurrency worth US$2,000 to the suspects as a deposit. Authorities were alerted after one victim secretly sent a message via the Line application to an Immigration Bureau officer in Pathum Thani province, prompting a raid on the property.
Another suspect, a police captain, had left the house to buy food prior to the raid and is still at large.
