Three men who killed Chinese student in Thailand arrested in Wuhan

UPDATE

Police in Wuhan, China, yesterday arrested the three men suspected of murdering a Chinese university student and dumping her body in a ditch in Nonthaburi, Thailand, on Thursday.

Deputy national police chief Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn has sent Thai immigration officers to Wuhan to assist in the Chinese police’s investigation.

The young Chinese men are believed to have kidnapped and killed their compatriot, 22 year old Jin Can, at a rented house in a luxury village just north of Bangkok after failing to obtain a 2.5 million baht ransom from her father in China in the early hours of Thursday morning.

After the murder, the men dumped Jin Can’s body in a swampy ditch at a banana plantation before fleeing Thailand on a flight to China before the student’s body was discovered on Saturday.

Yesterday at 9.30pm, Nonthaburi Provincial Court issued arrest warrants for 23 year old Chen Saiken, 23 year old Zhou Xiongfei and 24 year old Zhou Pengfei, all of Chinese nationality.

The court detailed the following charges against all three men: jointly kidnapping a person over the age of 15 years old by means of deceit, violence, or coercion; detaining or confining a person and depriving them of liberty to obtain a ransom; causing the kidnapped or confined person to die; jointly killing a person with the intent to conceal other offences or avoid being criminally charged for other offences; jointly damaging, destroying, moving, concealing, manipulating a corpse to conceal death; and joint theft.

All three suspects will be prosecuted under Chinese law.

ORIGINAL STORY: Kidnappers flee Thailand after killing Chinese student

Police believe that the three Chinese men suspected of kidnapping and killing a female Chinese university student, whose body was discovered in Nonthaburi province on Saturday, have already fled Thailand on a flight to Chengdu, China, reports CH7.

On Saturday, a resident of Moo 6 in Bang Yai district discovered the body of 22 year old Jin Can, a third-year music student at Bangkok Thonburi University, inside a sack at a banana plantation in Bang Yai district.

Jin Can was stabbed five times in the left side of her chest and sustained a big stab wound on her right shoulder. A towel was tied around her neck.

Police say that the three Chinese men murdered the student after failing to acquire a 2.5 million baht ransom from her father in China in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Detectives learned the kidnappers sent a message to her father in China via WeChat demanding 500,000 yuan (2.5 million baht) and sent him a photo of his daughter with her wrists and ankle tied up.

Her father contacted the university, where staff said that Jin Can was last seen at the campus on Wednesday afternoon between 5pm-7pm. However, they thought the ransom demand was a prank, so Jin Can’s father didn’t transfer the money, reports the Phuket Express.

Officers found plenty of evidence to suggest that three Chinese nationals – Su Pengfei, Chen Sagaing and Su Xiangfei [transliterated from Thai] – committed the crime.

At 12.55am on Thursday, March 30, CCTV cameras captured Jin Can walking across the street and into a convenience store near a luxury village in the Bang Yai district. Then, three Chinese men got out of a red Mazda sedan and pretended to shop when they were following Jin Can.

Witnesses said they’d seen the men in the shops several times, leading police to believe that the men lived in the local area. Police found that the three suspects rented a house nearby. The landlord said they moved out at 3pm on Thursday.

From the CCTV footage, police were able to trace the red Mazda to a car rental shop on New Petchaburi Road. The car was returned on Thursday.

The kidnapping and murder appear to be a thoroughly planned crime. Police believe the suspects have returned to China on a flight to Chengdu. Thai police are working with Chinese authorities to put out warrants for their arrest.