Military police in Phnom Penh on Monday freed three Chinese businessmen who were kidnapped two months ago and arrested their six captors, also Chinese nationals, who were attempting to extort money from the trio’s relatives back in China, an official said on Tuesday.
Phan Daravuth, deputy director of the municipal military police’s judicial bureau, said the three Chinese victims, aged 40, 50 and 55, were kidnapped in Sihanoukville, where they worked and lived, about two months ago.
At some point during that period, Mr. Daravuth said, they were brought to Phnom Penh, eventually ending up in a rented home in Meanchey district’s Chak Angre Krom commune. Once there, they managed to toss a piece of paper out a window with a plea for help and contact information for their Cambodian wives, he said.
Passers-by found the note and informed the women, who contacted authorities on Monday, Mr. Daravuth said. “We rescued them and arrested the six Chinese kidnappers, including one woman, after their Khmer wives filed complaints with us,” he said.
Mr. Daravuth said he had no details about the kidnappers and did not know how much money they were demanding, nor what sort of business the victims were involved in. He said the captives were given little food but were not physically tortured.
“The victims were getting weak and thin because they were eating only once a day,” he said.
He said the kidnappers stood accused of illegal detention and extortion and would be sent to the Phnom Phnom Municipal Court today.
