Two Foreigners Arrested For Double Kidnapping

Koreans arrested for double kidnapping

PATTAYA: -- Police yesterday arrested two South Korean men at a Pattaya hotel for abducting two compatriots separately and extorting money from one of them, following business conflicts between the suspects and the victims’ friend.

Kim Choen-seob and Son Jung-sik were charged with coercion, assault and criminal conspiracy, as well as possession of illegal firearms for their two unregistered handguns.

The arrests were made after the victims – South Korean brothers Kim Jin-seoung and Kim Jin-woo – filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division last Saturday.

Lead investigator Maj-General Wut Liptapanlop said the suspects first kidnapped Kim Jin-seoung from a Bangkok hotel on August 24 and took him to a Bang Saen hotel in Chon Buri in the trunk of a car, then beat him severely before releasing him for Bt200,000.

The suspects then snatched Kim Jin-woo from Central Bang Na last Thursday and detained him in a Bangkok house, also beating him severely.

Kim Jin-woo managed to escape before the suspects contacted his family to negotiate a ransom.

The officer quoted the suspects as saying they abducted the pair because the victims’ friend, a businessman identified as Lee Song-woo, had cheated them out of Bt4 million.

Police were investigating whether the business deal had been illegal.

--The Nation 2005-09-22