Five triad members were yesterday convicted of a transglobal kidnap and ransom conspiracy at a London court and jailed for 15 years.
The five held a Chinese cook hostage for 11 days chained to a radiator in a London house, while they tried to extort money from his family in China, Southwark Crown Court was told.
The five were all convicted of kidnap, conspiracy to falsely imprison and conspiracy to blackmail between June 20 and July 4 last year.
They will be deported to China after they have served their jail sentences in Britain. Chef Cao Xiaoming, 25, was snatched at gunpoint in Hendon in North London. The gang demanded GBP41,000 (HK$516,600) ransom from his wife and family.
Every day he was beaten and warned his fingers would be chopped off one by one if his family did not come up with the money.
His family contacted Scotland Yard and detectives flew to Hong Kong to get Chinese visas and travel to speak to his family in Fuzhou.