Two Chinese nationals have been expelled from Cambodia after authorities determined they had illegally entered the country and were suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of a Taiwanese businessman, authorities said.
Zhou Zhing, 27, and Lou Wai Hong, 29, were escorted to Pochentong Airport and put on a plane to Shanghai, China, Municipal Foreign Police Chief Pol Pithey said Wednesday.
“We arrested and kicked them out because they violated the immigration law,” the chief said, adding the pair came into Cambodia without a passport or travel documents.
Police suspected the two men of being connected to the kidnapping of Taiwanese businessman Chin Jian Hua, the owner of a paper factory in Ang Snuol district, Kandal province.
But there was not enough evidence to hold them, Pol Pithey said. Authorities arrested both Zhou Zhing and Lou Wai Hong in Phnom Penh in late April on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping.
“There was no proof,” Pol Pithey said.
Chin Jian Hua’s family paid $100,000 ransom to have the businessman released, but he remained missing as of Wednesday, police said.
Police had held the two men in custody since their arrest, waiting for the long process of deportation to wrap up, Pol Pithey said.
The mastermind of the kidnapping remains at large.
Cambodia is well-known as a major gateway for illegal Chinese nationals en route to third and fourth countries, sometimes paying thousands of dollars to be smuggled across Asia.
