Pattaya gang charged with posing as police to kidnap female victims
Four men have been charged with posing as police officers to kidnap a woman for ransom in Chonburi.
Pattaya police arrested the four men on Monday and named them as Pakornkiat Saengpraewpraw, 28, Santi Chanthong, 37, Sukchai Horthongkham, 34, and Natthapol Treesuwan. Investigators are also seeking another suspect, Somphong (surname withheld), who has fled.
Police said the gang – some of whom are former Royal Thai Navy personnel – have kidnapped people in the same manner several times before. All their victims were connected with the drugs trade.
The mother of the latest victim said she notified police after a ransom was paid and her daughter was released.
According to Nidapan (surname withheld), her daughter had gone out to buy beer on Monday when a woman dropped a packet of drugs in front of her. Immediately, two men approached and asked her who the packet belonged to. The men identified themselves as police officers before allegedly taking her to a house where they imprisoned her in a cage guarded by fierce dogs.
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On Tuesday at 4am, she reportedly called a friend and said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 50,000 baht. At 2pm, she phoned her foreign boyfriend and told him the ransom had been reduced to 16,000 baht after negotiations.
The mother said the money was then transferred to the kidnappers, and the woman was released.
She also told press that three other women had been imprisoned in the same place.
