Three Chinese men have been arrested for allegedly abducting a businessman from Vanuatu in Bangkok for a 10-million-baht ransom.
A source said He Junhui, 37, Jinyong Zheng, 36, and Heng Yaofeng, 35, were arrested by a joint team of local and immigration police at Suvarnabhumi airport while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight to Qatar at about 1am on Thursday.
Police reportedly confiscated a 25-million-baht wristwatch and a key to a Mercedes-Benz before charging them with theft.
The three were reportedly taken to the Wang Thonglang district police office for interrogation.
According to the source, a probe began after the victim's girlfriend told police about his abduction from a residence in the Rama IX area in Huai Khwang district on Wednesday afternoon.
She reportedly told police her boyfriend was arriving to meet her in his Mercedes-Benz when he was abducted by several men in a Toyota Fortuner right before her eyes.
District police and agents from the Metropolitan Police's Investigation sub-division 4 were called and tried to track the suspects using CCTV footage, the source said.
Eventually, investigators managed to speak to the suspects via a phone call and tracked them down, the source said.
Afterwards, the suspects decided to dump the victim in an area around Soi Wat Lat Pla Duk in Nonthaburi, the source said.
The man took a taxi to Bangkok's Huai Khwang district to see his girlfriend before contacting police.
According to the initial investigation report, one of the three suspects owed the victim money and the businessman was held for a 10-million-baht ransom.
The victim was told to transfer the money as he was being held in a car, it said.
However, his mobile phone was left at his residence, so the three only took the man's brand-named wristwatch instead, it said.