A TEENAGER yesterday admitted abducting a 10-year-old boy whose body was found in a plastic bin liner on a hillside in the New Territories. Eddie Wong Wan-hin was snatched outside his school in Happy Valley last September in a $3 million kidnap plot. Three days later his body was discovered in a black plastic bag at Tai Mo Shan Country Park. A postmortem examination showed he had died of suffocation and strangulation. There were also chemical burn marks around his mouth and nose, the High Court heard. Eddie lived with his parents and two sisters in a luxury apartment in Cloud View Road, North Point. His family runs an import-export business. Yesterday Fong Ka-yan, 19, a salesman, was remanded in custody after admitting one charge of forcibly detaining the boy, with intent to procure a ransom. Prosecutor Peter Power said the mastermind behind the kidnapping was a friend of Fong's who wanted to pay off gambling debts. Eddie was abducted outside the Buddhist Wong Cheung Um Primary School in Eastern Hospital Road on September 26. He was seen leaving the school with a man, but was not seen alive again. About 45 minutes later, the school received a call asking for Eddie to be excused from class because his grandfather was ill. The kidnappers then made a series of calls to his parents, demanding $3 million for his release. In the early hours of September 28, Eddie's father was sent to Mongkok, Wan Chai and finally the Cheong Yip Centre in Whitty Street, Western, where he was to deposit the cash. But there were too many people there and he went home. No further calls were made by the kidnappers. Police discovered the boy's body - still in his school uniform - the next day on a slope overlooking Kam Tin, after a search involving a helicopter, 250 officers and sniffer dogs. A government pathologist said he had been dead for about two days. Mr Power said Fong went to China via Macau on September 27, but was stopped on his return to the enclave and deported to Hong Kong. In police interviews the salesman accused a friend who, he said, had asked him to help kidnap the boy. Fong said that a few days before the abduction they had examined the area around the school and the victim was pointed out to him. Fong was to drive the getaway car. On September 26 he dropped his friend and another accomplice near the school. When he picked them up an hour later they had a small boy with them. Fong took them to Shamshuipo where one of the kidnappers got out and returned with white gloves and a bottle believed to have contained ammonia. Fong drove his accomplices and the child to Tai Mo Shan and when he returned 15 minutes later the child was gone. He was told somebody else would take the boy to a hiding place. Mr Justice Keith adjourned sentencing to a date to be fixed. The two alleged accomplices cannot be named for legal reasons.
