CityNews – August 28, a man later identified as 25-year-old Khuangchai Saeliao from Chiang Dao, was arrested for kidnapping.
According to police, on August 16th, 22-year-old Artit Sema and his friend, 27-year-old Narong Nitsakul, originally from Chiang Dao, were kidnapped for ransom by 5 – 6 men from a pavilion at the entrance of Ban Tham village in Chiang Dao.
They were then detained in a hut in a forest for four days. They were later released after their relatives transferred 300,000 baht to Khuangchai’s bank account. One of the kidnap victims, Artit, has a brother who is jailed in Chiang Mai Prison on drug charges. He also allegedly owed a drug gang a large sum of money. Unable to pay the money since he was in jail, the gang started to harass his family. Artit and his friend had arranged to meet with members of the gang to try to negotiate the settlement, but instead were kidnapped and held for ransom. Even though Artit told them he had nothing to do with his brother, the kidnappers made threats to their families until they received the 300,000 baht transfer, when they released the two friends.
Police have now made one arrest and are following leads for the other members of the gang.