Tachileik police kill 6 in gunfight to rescue Chinese businessman
All six kidnappers were killed in a standoff outside a house in Ban Pa Sak area, with the victim found unharmed but malnourished
Police officers in Tachileik, a town on the Myanmar side of the border with Chiang Rai province, rescued a Chinese businessman after a gunfight with his abductors on Wednesday.
All six kidnappers were shot and killed in a standoff with police officers at a house in Tachileik’s Ban Pa Sak area, the Tachileik News Agency reported on Thursday morning.
The agency said Chinese businessman U Yan Chan, 78, had been abducted on the early morning of December 13 from the local branch of the KBZ Bank.
CCTV footage showed that the group had travelled in a white sedan, passing several locations in Tachileik, before stopping at a house.
Police said two of the killed suspects were Tachileik locals, while the rest are yet to be identified.
Officers said the victim was unharmed but had not been fed for several days while he was locked in the house.
Police also found a .38 pistol, an M-16 assault rifle, 21 bullets, and 65,000 tablets of unidentified drugs in the house.
Crimes in the border town have been increasingly rampant in the past years, the news agency said, adding that the locals have been calling on Tachileik police to boost patrols and take crime prevention efforts, especially against armed robbers and kidnappers.
