Chiang Rai: A Thai businessman abducted in Laos on Sunday will return home to Thailand soon after managing to escape from his kidnappers, according to the Immigration Bureau chief.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, who yesterday flew to Chiang Rai to help locate businessman Singkaew Wongyai, said he was informed by Lao authorities at 11am yesterday that Mr Singkaew had been found safe.
Mr Singkaew, president of the Chiang Saen Livestock Exporters Association in Chiang Rai, reportedly went to Bo Kaeo province in Laos on Sunday to meet a business partner.
His family later received a video clip showing Mr Singkaew with a gun to his head. The family was told he would be freed in exchange for 5 million baht. Lao authorities said Mr Singkaew was taken to a local hospital to treat minor injuries after being found.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong said Mr Singkaew told investigators he had been abducted by three people who spoke Mandarin Chinese and who cut him with a knife.
According to Pol Lt Gen Sompong, Mr Singkaew escaped from his abductors and was later located by Lao authorities behind a casino in Tonpheung district of Bo Kaeo province in Laos, opposite Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai in Thailand.
Police also said Mr Singkaew's had wired almost 200,000 baht to a bank account in Bangkok.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong did not reveal the name of the owner of the bank account but said police will call the person in for questioning.
He denied Lao police have already arrested two suspects.