Two Indian men abducted for ransom by a gang led by their compatriots were rescued on Friday in Samut Prakan, along with a third intended victim. Thai police have seven suspects in custody.
Police arrested Deep Sandhu, a 32-year-old Indian national, and six other male suspects — five Indians and one Pakistani — at a house in tambon Samrong Nua of Muang district in Samut Prakan, Pol Lt Gen Sayam Boonsom, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said on Friday.
The officers also rescued three Indian men from the house. Two of them had been abducted by the suspects who demanded a ransom of 2.5 million rupees (977,000 baht). The third had been lured to the house from Suvarnabhumi airport.
Earlier, Sanjeev Kumar filed a complaint with police that his two friends — Ramesh Sharma, 48, and Anandeep Kajal, 27 — had been abducted by Mr Sandhu, who picked them up from a hotel in the Silom area of Bangkok on April 14.
Mr Sandhu contacted Mr Sharma’s younger sister via WhatsApp on April 16, saying he had detained the two men and demanded a ransom of 2.5 million rupees. If she did not pay, the two men would be in danger, he threatened.
Police investigators examined security video from the hotel and subsequently obtained information from a taxi driver, who said he had been hired by the Indian suspect to pick up the victims there.
The arresting team tracked down Mr Sandhu to the house in Samut Prakan, where they also found his two victims and the third man, identified later as Vipulkumar Shambhulal Patel, 41. All three had their hands and legs bound.
Mr Sandhu and six associates were subsequently arrested. The six others were Pakistani national Muhammad Afzal, 57, and five Indian men, identified as Souray, 26, Simranjit Singh, 35, Abhishek, 25, Nitin Salaria 36 and Gurwinder Singh, 35. All were detained at the Yannawa police station in Bangkok for questioning.