12 police accused in kidnap case
3 Koreans nabbed in online gambling ring
Twelve policemen are suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of three Korean men for ransom, a source from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) said.
The source said police have made progress in the case, and they believe a total of 12 police officers holding the ranks of inspector and deputy inspector, and noncommissioned officers, were involved.
The officers are from the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the Tourist Police Division and the CSD, the source said, adding that a civilian was also involved.
The Royal Thai Police spokesman, Pol Lt Gen Prawuth Thawornsiri, yesterday announced the arrest of a South Korean man identified as Kim Seung-cheul who was wanted on a warrant for being involved in kidnapping.
He was detained for questioning by CSD investigators for about two hours before being taken to the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court where police sought court permission to detain him for 12 more days.
Mr Kim denied any involvement in the kidnapping, saying it was all a misunderstanding. He did not go in to detail.
The three Korean kidnap victims were identified as Myeong Il-do, 33, Kim Kwang-hun, 30 and Lee Young-jun, 29.
The kidnappings took place after police raided a condominium on Sukhumvit 71 Road last Thursday following a tip-off that several South Koreans were running an illegal online football betting operation.
A police source said Mr Kim and another fugitive South Korean suspect, Zhou Chung-chul, had colluded with the accused police in kidnapping the South Koreans for ransom in exchange for a deal in which they would be freed without charge relating to illegal football betting.
Police arrested the three victims during the raid, then released them into the hands of the two South Korean suspects, who kidnapped them and demanded two million baht in ransom from them.
The three captives contacted their relatives in South Korea and asked them to transfer 200,000 baht to the kidnappers’ accounts while their relatives in Thailand, who had learned of the kidnap, filed a complaint with CSD police.
The source said about 4am on Friday Mr Kim took the three to another condominium room on Sukhumvit 77, which belongs to one of the victims.
He ransacked the room and took another 500,000 baht kept in the room, the source said.
The source said about 11am, Mr Kim then took one of the victims to the Big C store at Onnut to meet a Thai man who Mr Kim claimed was a policeman.
Mr Kim handed the money taken from the victims to the Thai man.
Mr Kim told the victim the payment was made so police would not prosecute the three victims on charges of illegal football betting.
At noon, Mr Zhou, who acted as an interpreter for police, showed up at the room and told the three victims to find the rest of money to pay the whole ransom.
Mr Zhou said if they could not pay the ransom, he would allow police who were waiting downstairs to arrest them, according to the source.
Later, the kidnappers took the victims to the Seacon Square mall to withdraw money from an ATM.
They reportedly freed the hostages at the mall and vanished, as they had learned that police were closing in on them.
Pol Lt Gen Prawuth said police have also obtained an arrest warrant for the other South Korean suspect, Mr Zhou.
The warrant will be forwarded to the Immigration Bureau to stop the suspect from leaving the country, he said.
Pol Col Jiraphop Phuridet, chief of the CSD’s 1st sub-division, said police were tracking down Mr Zhou, who is still at large.
Police were tipped off that the suspect left a condominium in Bangkok on Tuesday night, and police believe he remains in the country, Pol Col Jiraphop said.
Pol Col Jiraphop also said the three Korean kidnap victims told investigators that some people posing as police were involved in the kidnapping.
Pol Col Jiraphop said the victims’ statements are important evidence to implicate other suspects.
Photographs of the police suspects may be shown to the three victims to identify, he said.
Investigators will summon the police suspects for questioning, and gather evidence to forward to prosecutors, Pol Col Jiraphop said.