TAICHUNG - The Taichung City police yesterday arrested four men on kidnapping charges and rescued a wealthy woman whom they had been holding for six days.
The kidnappers were demanding a ransom of NT$20 million (S$856,000) for her release. Police raided an apartment in Taichung on midnight Wednesday where they found the suspected kidnapping mastermind, surnamed Chung, and his three associates.

They also rescued the victim, a 57-year-old woman Hsu, who had been held prisoner in the apartment since April 14.
The victim was in stable condition following the rescue and showed no signs of being abused by her kidnappers, the police said.
However, she had lost 10 kilograms over the six days of her captivity, although the kidnappers had been giving her food and water.
She is currently under medical care in a hospital, the police said.
Another suspect in the crime, surnamed Chang, committed suicide during a previous raid on Sunday, the police said.

Suicide note

Taichung police were able to discover the whereabouts of Chang's partners and where they were keeping Hsu from the suicide note that he left behind.

Chang was reportedly a mahjong partner of Hsu's. The kidnapping was staged because he learned, in one of their mahjong sessions together, that Hsu's husband has made a fortune in real estate.

In his suicide note, Chang expressed his deep regret for taking part in the crime. He chose to commit suicide to show his remorse, the note said.

In the note, Chang also disclosed that he thought of turning himself to the police. But he decided not to do so because the move would betray Chung's trust.

Investigations

Initial investigations have shown that Hsu was kidnapped outside her friend's residence in downtown Taichung on April 14 after playing a mahjong game and as she was heading for home, according to police.

One day after Hsu's disappearance, her family received a phone call demanding a ransom of NT$20 million (S$856000). However, Hsu's family did not do anything because they thought it was a fraud.

They did not call for help from the police until a day later when Hsu still hadn't come home.

Investigators had successfully contacted all of Hsu's mahjong partners on that day except Chang.

They therefore raided Chang's residence Sunday but found that he had already committed suicide by jumping out of the apartment only five minutes before the police arrived.

Chung, the chief suspect in the case, had met Chang in prison. Chung previously spent 15 years in prison for kidnapping a cousin of his wife.

According to Hsu's neighbors, Hsu and her husband keep a low profile even though they had made huge profits selling lands. Mahjong playing is a regular hobby of Hsu's, they said.

(China Post)