Kidnapped Chinese-born man freed

FUZHOU: Chinese and Dutch police have rescued a kidnapped Chinese-born Spaniard within four days of the abduction.

An official from the Public Security Bureau gang-crime department in East China's Fujian Province, who refused to be named, yesterday said a local woman surnamed Lin in the province's Lianjiang County called the police at 9 am on July 30 to say that her husband had been kidnapped in the Netherlands three hours before.

Lin told Fujian police that her husband - also surnamed Lin and a 37-year old Lianjiang native who later became a Spanish citizen - had called her three hours earlier from the Netherlands to say that he had been kidnapped and the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of 40,000 euros (US$45,000).

The official, who did not give the couple's full names, said: "The relative of the victim called the Chinese police for help because she would have had language difficulties in trying to communicate with the Dutch police.

"The woman also did this because she had no way of getting the telephone number of the Dutch police, so she called the Chinese police."

After receiving a report from the Fujian Public Security Bureau, the Ministry of Public Security contacted its Dutch counterpart and reported the abduction, according to the official.

Using information provided by the Chinese side, the Dutch police caught two suspects at an as yet undisclosed location in the Netherlands on August 4 as the two individuals were withdrawing 370,000 yuan (US$44,700) from a Netherlands-based renminbi account into which the victim's wife had been told to deposit money.

The kidnapped Lin was rescued from an undisclosed location in the Netherlands three hours after the arrest of the two suspects.

The Chinese official said: "The Fujian police is waiting for further information on identification of the kidnappers and the motive of the abduction from the Dutch police."

He said the legal procedure is for the Dutch police to report to the Chinese police about the case.

"The provincial public security bureau is trying to find whether the Dutch police has delivered further information to the Ministry of Public Security," he said.