A HONG KONG man has been seized and held by a mainland ceramics manufacturer using four privately hired security guards in Henan over his former employer's business debts.
The wife of 42-year-old Peter Leung Wing-sum has not been allowed to see her husband who has been confined at an undisclosed location in Jiyuan, Henan province, since April 3.
The state-run ceramics factory locked up Mr Leung after failing to secure a debt of more than $4 million from his former employer whose company is believed to have collapsed amid the financial turmoil, according to Mr Leung's younger brother Leung Wing-lok.
In the most recent phone call last Tuesday, Mr Leung told his brother he was not being given any food or water. The phone was then snatched by a Mandarin-speaking guard who asked for $2 million for his brother's release, Leung Wing-lok said.
'I suppose it's just a threat. He couldn't have lasted until now with no food and water,' he said.
'I haven't told the whole truth to my mother, but she kind of knows about it when the family discusses how to raise the money.
'My brother is basically fit but he has asthma and he would have run out of medicine by now even if he did bring some with him which I'm not sure.' Leung Wing-lok has reported the case to the Hong Kong police, who have promised to alert the mainland's Interpol.