Taipei prosecutors have indicted six men in two separate cases of theft and kidnapping for ransom over financial disputes.
After wrapping up its investigation earlier this week, the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday released details of the cases, saying they primarily involved a man surnamed Chen (陳).
Chen allegedly told friends that a large sum of money was missing from his residence and accused an acquaintance surnamed Yu (游) of theft, an investigation showed.
In October 2017, he demanded that Yu meet and pay him NT$750,000 (US$24,730) in cash.
Chen called five friends to join him. They met Yu, beat him up and then took him to an old house in a mountainous area in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), investigators said.
Chen and his friends used metal clamps on Yu’s fingers and forced him to drink cola. The group videotaped the proceedings and sent them to Yu’s mother to demand money, investigators said.
After Yu was severely weakened and sustained injuries from the beatings, they released him and he returned home, prosecutors said.
In May last year, Chen got involved in a financial dispute with a man surnamed Fang (房), they said, adding that Chen demanded payment of NT$500,000, which he said was a loan owed by one of Fang’s friends.
He called three friends to kidnap Fang and detained him at a motel in Sijhih, and they contacted Fang’s father, demanding NT$800,000 in ransom, prosecutors said.
The group allegedly used metal clamps, forced Fang to drink cola and poured hot water on him, they said.
After three days of torturing him, Fang’s father received calls and agreed to pay the ransom. However, Chen thought that the police got wind of their location so they moved to another motel and continued beating up Fang, who sustained burns and injuries to his body, prosecutors said.
Fang escaped when Chen and his friends fell asleep. He reported them to police, who arrested the suspects, prosecutors said.
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