Four alleged kidnappers—three of them college students—have been arrested by the Ministry of Interior and now face charges they abducted the son of Sihanoukville’s third deputy governor, police officials said.
Sem Visal, 23, Long Phirun, 24, and Sing Han, 24, all students at the National Institute of Management, and Boeung Chhang, 50, were arrested Friday for last week’s kidnapping of Sarat Virak, 24, the son of Sboung Sarat, according to Ministry of Interior Department of Information General Director Chay Sinarith.
Police rescued Sarat Virak from a Phnom Penh home. He had been stabbed in the right thigh and had scratches on his abdomen from the struggle, but was in good condition, Chay Sinarith said.
Five other kidnappers remain at large, Chay Sinarith said. Boeung Chhang has been arrested because he allegedly allowed the students to use his home to stash the kidnapped man while they awaited a ransom that never came, officials said.
The defendants are also suspected in the kidnapping of the grandson of a Phnom Penh hotel owner two months ago, Chay Sinarith said. Three of the men at large are also students at the National Institute of Management, Chay Sinarith said.
The kidnappers snatched Sarat Virak, a friend of theirs, from the street and demanded $300,000 in ransom. Within a day, they lowered their demands to $200,000.
The family eventually talked the kidnappers down to $100,000 and police made the arrests as the alleged abductors went to collect the ransom money in a Phnom Penh street, Chay Sinarith said.
