Chinese businessmen abducted for B12m
published : 21 Oct 2024 at 14:30
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Wassayos Ngamkham

Police are hunting an armed gang that allegedly abducted two Chinese businessmen from their office in Bangkok and took around 12 million baht from them on Saturday.
Police said on Monday the two men were accommodation agents for Chinese visitors.
They complained to police on Sunday night that they were abducted from their rented house, which also held their office, on Ratchadaphisek 24 Road in Huai Khwang district of Bangkok on Oct 19.
They alleged that on Saturday an acquaintance asked them to ensure they had 3 million baht in cash at hand because the caller planned to again cash digital currency with them.
Later that day, five armed men entered their office, took the 3 million baht cash and abducted them.
The two men said they were separated and taken to Nakhon Nayok province in two vehicles. There they were forced to transfer US$270,000 (about 8.9 million baht) to the gang's account.
Afterwards, the two men said, they were taken back to Bangkok in one vehicle and set free in Bang Khen district.
Police said the gang’s vehicles had fake licence plates and they fled separately.
One victim suspected his former wife was behind the alleged crime. The police station chief believed the gang and the former wife were hiding in Thailand.
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Vocabulary
- abduct: to take somebody away illegally, especially using force - ลักพาตัว
- accommodation: a place for someone to stay, live, or work - ที่พัก
- acquaintance: a person you know but who you are not close friends with - คนคุ้นเคย
- agent (noun): a person or company that buys or sells something for someone else - ตัวแทน
- allege: to say that something is true or that someone has done something wrong, even though this has not been proved - อ้าง, กล่าวหา
- currency (noun): the system of money, usually, but not always, that a country uses - เงินตรา
- ensure: to make certain that something happens or is done - ให้การยืนยัน, รับรอง, ให้ความมั่นใจ
- fake: made to look like something real in order to trick people - ที่ทำปลอม
- flee (past form: fled) (verb): to leave a place or person quickly because you are afraid of possible danger or consequences - หนี
- former: of or in an earlier time; before the present time or in the past - อดีต, แต่ก่อน
- licence plate: a flat piece of metal or plastic on the front and back of a vehicle that shows its license number - แผ่นป้ายทะเบียนรถยนต์
- vehicle: a machine that you travel in or on, especially one with an engine that travels on roads, e.g., a car, bus, van, truck, etc. - ยานพาหนะ