Gang on trial for kidnapping lawmaker
Print Edition
A CRIMINAL gang is standing trial for kidnapping a local lawmaker in Shenzhen and demanding gold as ransom.
The gang demanded 185 kilograms of gold bars worth nearly 50 million yuan (US$8.10 million) as ransom.
A total of 20 defendants were presented to the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on Monday, the New Express Daily reported yesterday.
Three ringleaders, one surnamed Zhang and two others surnamed Lai, were among the nine charged with kidnapping. The 11 others were relatives of the trio, who helped the gang to hide the gold and cover up their crimes. The trio however insisted in the court that their relatives had no idea about the kidnapping.
Prosecutors claimed the three men came up with the idea of kidnapping the deputy of the city’s People’s congress in July last year. In the next two months, they rented a factory workshop and prepared vehicles, electric baton and gum tapes.
The trio added six others to help them with the crime. The six were told they were just helping in recovering debts, the prosecutors said.
On September 23 last year, the nine men went to an underground parking lot of a local office building and waited for their target. The six were told he was an executive of a local company.
At around 9am, they kidnapped the lawmaker and drove him to the workshop.
Five of the six men left Shenzhen after getting paid. One of them, surnamed Long, was told to watch over the lawmaker.
The lawmaker agreed to give them gold bars worth 50 million yuan. He called his financial personnel and jewelry shops to collect the gold bars.
At 7:30pm the same day, the lawmaker’s driver handed over the ransom inside the parking lot of the Bao’an Airport. The gold bars were split among the three and they then called Long and told him to release the lawmaker next morning.
After being released from captivity, the lawmaker reported the matter to police. Most of the gang members were arrested in a month’s time, the paper reported.
Police recovered 174 kilograms of gold bars and 400,000 yuan in cash.
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