Vietnam jails Chinese man 17 years for kidnapping businessman over $184,000 ransom

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Dec. 9 found 40-year-old Zhao Xin guilty of kidnapping for ransom, while three accomplices received prison terms of 12 to 16 years for their roles in the plot.

According to the investigation, Zhao had been living in Vietnam for some time and was running out of money in late 2023. Prosecutors said he began scouting potential targets at restaurants popular with Chinese expatriates in Binh Duong Province, eventually zeroing in on a 44-year-old furniture company director known as Ming.

Zhao noticed Ming during repeated visits to the Lao Tuong Hy restaurant in the city and believed the businessman had "strong financial means," prompting him to recruit accomplice Tran Phan Vu Thanh to help follow and abduct him.

On the night of Dec. 20, 2023, Zhao and Thanh returned to the restaurant and waited. When Ming left after midnight, the pair tailed him on a motorbike for nearly 10 kilometers before cutting off his car. Thanh, pretending to be a police officer conducting an alcohol check, ordered Ming out of the vehicle, then shocked him with a stun baton and forced him into the back seat.

Zhao then coordinated with two more accomplices: Duong Thuy Ai and Nguyen Khanh Vi, to secure vehicles and move the victim. Investigators said the group drove Ming's car to an empty lot in Thu Dau Mot City, transferred him into a rented pickup truck and hid his vehicle more than 50 kilometers away. They then took the victim to a warehouse rented by Ai, where they tied his hands and feet, blindfolded him and locked him inside a cargo container.

Inside the cramped, dark box, the kidnappers forced Ming to call his colleague, Xu Feng, demanding VND4.5 billion ($184,000) in ransom. Xu immediately alerted another coworker and the victim's brother before reporting the incident to Binh Duong police. Authorities, treating the case as "especially serious," began coordinating closely with Ming’s family to keep the victim alive and track the kidnappers’ movements.

By the afternoon of Dec. 21, Zhao began directing the family through a series of rapid location changes inside an abandoned residential area in Hoa Phu Ward, a tactic police say was meant to shake off surveillance. When the family arrived, Zhao refused to let them see Ming, ordered them to throw the cash on the ground and threatened to "cut off his hand" if they hesitated. They dropped the bag of money and left.

Zhao sped toward the ransom bag on a motorbike, but police, who had quietly surrounded the area, moved in and arrested him. Another team simultaneously stormed the warehouse and freed Ming, who was found tied up but alive. Vi and Ai were arrested later the same day. Thanh fled to the Mekong Delta but surrendered on Dec. 29.

During the trial, all four defendants admitted to the plan, with Zhao described as the mastermind who initiated, coordinated and directly profited from the scheme.