Kaohsiung police yesterday broke a criminal ring suspected in the kidnapping last week of the 23-year-old daughter of a businessman known as the "King of Sugar."
The ringleader and main suspect is a friend of the victim's father, Tseng Hung-chang (
Police say the main suspect hatched the kidnapping plan after Tseng called him a "beast" during a poker game.
"The main suspect, Lee Tsung-jen (李聰仁), 41, originally planned to kidnap Tseng but later decided to kidnap his daughter," said Lin Wen-zhr (林文治), the director of the Kaohsiung County Police Department's criminal investigation corps, at a press conference yesterday.
Lee, who runs a transportation company, used to play poker with Tseng, and reportedly nursed a grudge after Tseng cursed him during a poker game that included other businesspeople, Lin said.
Lin said that Lee told police that he was angry with Tseng and decided to get even with him. Lee then helped three of his friends, surnamed Wang, Fan and Hung, plan for the crime.
According to Lin, Lee told them "if you are short of money, you can take some from the rich guy."
Because the three other suspects are all heavily in debt, they took to the idea, Lin said.
According to Lin, when Tseng's daughter, who works at his factory, opened the main entrance last Wednesday morning, she was pushed into a car by Wang, Fan and Hung. They then drove her to an empty house outside Kaohsiung and called her father to demand a ransom.
Lin said the kidnappers first asked Tseng for NT$50 million (US$ 1.54 million), but that after negotiations Tseng agreed to pay NT$15 million.
However, the next day the victim escaped when the suspects went out to buy food, Lin said.
The young woman was not tortured, Lin added.
The official said that police gathered fingerprints from the empty house, and also discovered the car used in the crime with the help of street surveillance cameras.
Police also found an image of Wang from a surveillance camera when he entered a convenience store in Tainan County to buy telephone cards.
Police arrested Wang at his residence in Kaohsiung County on Saturday night, and then arrested Hung and Fan in Kaohsiung City.
After midnight, police caught the main suspect, Lee, in the city.
Lin said police were surprised that a "normal" businessman such as Lee had commited such a serious crime. Lin said the four suspects would be charged with kidnapping for ransom.
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