Police yesterday morning arrested five suspects for their involvement in the kidnapping of a 32-year-old Taichung woman, but are still trying to track down the kidnappers themselves. The woman was released Friday night after her family paid a NT$8 million (US$251,000) ransom.
"The five suspects were in charge of taking the ransom. Police are looking for the main suspects who kidnapped the victim," said Lin Jen-shou (
Taichung police said the woman, surnamed Siew, was abducted in broad daylight and pushed into a car by kidnappers just before 7am Thursday, as she was walking her dog near her residence in Taichung City. At about 7:20am, a neighbor saw the abandoned pooch outside the Siew's residence, and informed the family. The woman's parents searched the neighborhood and found their daughter's glasses and shoes in the road.
The family reported the matter to police at 8:20am.
Police said the suspects did not contact Siew's family that day, but called six times on Friday from Taoyuan County to negotiate a ransom. The criminals at first demanded a NT$20 million ransom, but the family finally agreed to pay only NT$8 million.
At 3pm on Friday the family deposited NT$3.5 million into an account at Cosmos Bank, and NT$4.5 million into an account at the post office.
Police traced the post office and bank accounts and found that they belonged to a man named Lin Kuo-chung (
After the ransom was deposited in the accounts, Lin withdrew the NT$3.5 million from a Cosmos Bank in Kaohsiung in the afternoon, accompanied by four accomplices. Lin and the other four then went to the post office to try to withdraw the NT$4.5 million. The post office did not have sufficient cash on hand and gave Lin a NT$4.5 million check instead.
At 9:30pm on Friday, the woman was released by the kidnappers in Kaohsiung, and her family took her back to Taichung shortly afterwards. Police did not say whether the woman had been injured during the ordeal.
Police identified Lin, his car and the four accomplices through surveillance cameras at the bank and the post office. Early yesterday morning, they swooped in and arrested Lin at his Kaohsiung residence. Police said Lin is handicapped and confined to a wheelchair. He runs a small convenience shop in Kaohsiung.
Police then arrested the four accomplices -- a woman surnamed Wu, and three men surnamed Lee, Wu, and Tung.
All five suspects have told police they did not participate in the actual kidnapping, but were only in charge of collecting the ransom. They say they were paid NT$50,000 each by the actual kidnappers to collect the ransom for them.
Police said the victim's father runs shoe factories in Taiwan and China, and the family lives in a rich neighborhood in Taichung. Police suspect the main kidnappers were familiar with the Siew family.
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