Saturday, April 5, 2008
A HARROWING ACCOUNT OF KIDNAPPING, RAPE AND BLACKMAIL IN BANGKOK
Two weeks after New Year's Eve, the wife of submitter of this gruelling ordeal, who we'll call Mrs. Lek, took half a day off work after finishing her duties contacting government offices. She went to Central Department Store , Ladprow, Bangkok, looking for new books, being an avid reader. While she was looking around , searching for books, a slightly older lady of around 35 years-of-age, who we'll call Ms Gig, approached her, noticed the section she was browsing and told Mrs. Lek she also like to read the same type detective stories, she also said she had many interesting books of her own. Their conversation went well. Later, Mrs Lek told her husband that Ms Gig was well-dressed with a pleasant manner.
Before she left, Ms Gig gave Mrs. Lek her business card and she, in turn, gave Ms Gig her phone number. For some time following the encounter, the two ladies exchanged opinions about books over the phone. Later on they met again and Ms Gig lent Mrs Lek a book which she later remarked was very dull and as she had already read it, decided to give the book back to Ms Gig.
They then arranged a day to meet again, and when they did Ms Gig introduced Mrs Lek to a man who was waiting at one of the self-service food centres. Ms Gig said the man, who we'll call Mr Yai, was a friend from work and he liked the same sort of book, too.
While they were at the food centre, Mr Yai offer to buy some food for them. Ms Gig accepted the offer and, being too polite to refuse, Mrs Lek accepted, too. Mrs Lek wanted to buy them both soft drinks, but Ms Gig rushed over to get the drinks first, so Mrs Lek had to sit and wait for her food and drink.
After eating her food and drink, Mrs Lek began to feel dizzy and sleepy and felt she was losing control of herself. Both Ms Gig and Mr Yai came to Mrs Lek's assistance and between them carried her outside the shopping mall. Mrs Lek later recounted that she could hardly stand, but remembered that Mr Yai had made a phone call and, only a minute later, a white van drove in and they carried her to the van and began to put her in. Mrs Lek tried to resist, but to no avail. All the time Ms Gig and Mr Yai were trying to shut the door, Mrs Lek was shouting for help.
There were another two men in the van and as soon as they began driving out of the parking lot, the three men took it in turns to rape Mrs Lek, while Ms Gig took video and photos of the proceedings. Mrs Lek lost track of time and wasn't aware of how long she was kept in the van. Eventually, she was taken to a women's toilet in a petrol station in the Bangkapi area from where Mr Lek later picked her up, after she had explained where she was.
Mr Lek tried to question his wife, but she couldn't stop crying and was so traumatized by the whole experience that she hasn't been able to return to work since.
Three days later, Mr Lek's mother called him to tell him that a registered letter had arrived addressed to him. He went to pick it up and was shocked to see photos of Mrs Lek's terrible experiences in the van. The kidnappers demanded Bt400,000 in return for the candid photos. He recalled being very angry and frustrated, so he told his father about the whole sorry proceedings. His father, conveniently, has some good connections with the police, so they reported the case.
In collaboration with the police, Mr Lek arranged a rendezvous with the kidnapping-blackmailers and pretended that he would pay them for the exchange. Fortunately, the police managed to arrest two of the male culprits and confiscated some of the photos. However, three of the gang are still at large and police are still searching for them.
Once in a while the blackmailers continue to call and threaten to publish the remaining photos on the internet. Mr and Mrs Lek are still living in fear; she can't work anymore and has become a recluse, refusing to meet anybody, not even her family or friends. She still can't be left alone at home too long and every working day, Mr Lek rushes home to be with her, after his work finishes.
Mr Lek decided to write PDN to ask us to publish the story of his wife's ordeal as a warning to others not to be too trusting of strangers. Hopefully one day soon, his family's fortunes will change for the better.
This story may be true as the Pattaya Daily News has no cooroboration on it.
All the news that's fit to print if interesting.
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