Mainland 4 jailed for kidnapping HK victims
Four mainlanders from Big Spender's former gang have been jailed after the kidnapping of two Hong Kong victims and demands for $20 million in ransom.
Local convicted gunman Yip Kai-foon was also named in a mainland court as an accomplice in one of the cases in which a Hong Kong businessman was abducted in a hotel car park in Foshan, Guangdong, in January, 1993.
A Xinhua report yesterday said the other culprits who plotted that abduction included Ma Shangzhong, Liu Xinghua, Liu Guoshun and Yan Mingliang, said to be members of the former gang of Big Spender Cheung Tze-keung.
Ma, like Cheung, was executed in Guangdong in December for a spate of cross-border crimes, while Yan is on the run.
Two other gang members, Ke Yingguang and Liu Yonghua, were jailed for their part in the other abduction.
In the first case, the kidnappers pushed the victim, surnamed Tang, into the back of his car and drove him to a flat rented by Yip in Guangzhou, Xinhua said.
'Liu Xinghua, Liu Guoshun and Yip Kai-foon repeatedly asked Mr Tang and his family for a ransom of $10 million,' the report said. 'Mr Tang was released only after his family paid $4 million ransom.' The two Lius were also involved in the abduction of the son of another Hong Kong businessman, surnamed Lau, with Ke in June 1992.
The trio abducted Mr Lau's son outside a school in Shenzhen and took him to Sanxiang town in Zhongshan where he was detained in the house of Ke's relatives.
The boy's family was asked to pay a ransom of $10 million but the gang later agreed to release the victim for $1 million.
Foshan City Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu Xinghua and Ke to life imprisonment on Tuesday. The pair also had their political rights stripped for life and property confiscated.
Liu Guoshun was jailed for 14 years, deprived of political rights for four years and fined 14,000 yuan.
Liu Yonghua was given a 10-year jail term, stripped of his political rights for three years and fined 10,000 yuan.
An SAR police spokesman said they would provide assistance to the Guangdong Public Security Bureau on the case said to have involved Yip if requested.
Yip is serving 36 years in Stanley prison for a series of crimes including escaping from custody, kidnapping and shooting at police.
