- A gang of Pakistani and Indian men tortured three Indians in Pattaya for ransom
- Victims lured by a fake seven-day Thailand tour package costing Rs 1.99 lakh each
- They were tied, beaten, starved, and forced to call families for Rs 68.4 lakh ransom
A gang of four Pakistani nationals and one Indian man tortured three Indian men for a week at a rented house in Pattaya, beating their ankles, hanging them face down and starving them while demanding a combined ransom of Rs 68.4 lakh (approximately 2.4 million baht) from their families back home, before Thai police rescued the victims on Monday (Jul 27).
Police found the three victims, aged 23 to 26, at a two-storey house on Map Tato Road in tambon Nongprue, Bang Lamung district, at 4 pm local time, according to a report in Bangkok Post. They were locked in two bedrooms, their limbs and mouths bound, with bruises on their ankles consistent with being struck by hard objects.
The victims told police they had been lured into buying a seven-day tour package to Thailand for about Rs 1.99 lakh (70,000 baht) each. The three Indian men landed at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan province, Bangkok, at 5 am on July 21 and took a taxi to Pattaya. Afterwards, they reached a meeting point at a fast-food restaurant on Sukhumvit Highway in Nongprue around 7 am.
Kidnappers Escape
Afterwards, an Indian man on a motorcycle drove them one by one to the house, where the five subcontinent gang members tied them up. As per the victims, they were sometimes hung face down and had their ankles beaten. They were forced to call their families in India to demand the ransom, and were denied meals and toilet breaks while being tortured daily.
Police Colonel Napatpong Kositsuriyamanee, immigration chief of Chon Buri, said that the victims' relatives phoned Thai police to seek help. Detectives found the gang had used a phone number registered in Dubai, UAE, to conceal their location, but police still managed to track them to the house. The kidnappers fled on motorcycles just before officers arrived.
Kositsuriyamanee said the case showed how scammers lure victims with "cheap tour packages" before holding them for ransom once they arrive in Thailand.
The incident comes days after Thailand once again made visa-free travel available to Indian passport holders. The decision was taken following a drop in visitor arrivals from India.
