Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/09
By: Liu Te-chang and S.C. Chang

Bangkok, June 9 (CNA) Two Taiwanese nationals and four Thais were each given 22-year jail terms by Thailand’s Supreme Court for their involvement in the abduction in 2009 of five family members of a Taiwanese businessman, according to a Bangkok Post report published Monday.

Following the abductions, the six kidnappers demanded a ransom of 30 million Thai baht (NT$29.8 million or US$889,274), half of which was paid by a relative of the family in Singapore, the report said.

All five were later rescued by police from Thailand and Taiwan, and a number of suspects were arrested. More than US$400,000 of the ransom was also retrieved.

The mastermind behind the abductions, surnamed Lin, escaped to China, but was apprehended in February this year.