Chinese Youth Trapped in Northern Myanmar 'Park'—Family Extorted for 700,000 Yuan Ransom

(China News, 7th)—A Chinese woman recently reported to the media that her 19-year-old boyfriend was lured to a "park" area in northern Myanmar earlier this year, where he twice tried to escape but failed, resulting in beatings that caused his leg bones to fracture. While the boyfriend was missing, someone extorted his family for a ransom of 1.2 million yuan (RMB, approximately 700,000 Malaysian ringgit). According to domestic media, police at the young man's registered domicile have already transferred relevant leads to the Pingdingshan Wugang City police in Henan Province.

The missing youth is named Wei Minghan and previously worked in Hainan Province. Starting from September 10th, his girlfriend, surnamed Long, lost contact with him. Later, she discovered on social media that her boyfriend's account IP address showed he was in Lincang City, Yunnan Province. By October 2nd, Ms. Long suddenly received a distress message from her boyfriend, saying he was in a "park" area in Shan State, northern Myanmar. Wei said that after he failed his first escape attempt, he was caught and brutally beaten, which resulted in broken leg and rib bones, as well as punctured internal organs causing bleeding; his face was covered in blood. He was sent to a hospital for treatment. On October 23rd, he tried to escape again when the guards were inattentive, hiding in what appeared to be an abandoned building, but was eventually caught and beaten once more. Ms. Long said that during this period, someone sent her a photo of her boyfriend in handcuffs, demanding a ransom of 100,000 yuan (about 58,000 Malaysian ringgit).

Wei's mother, Ms. Zhou, said that Wei Minghan is the eldest son in the family. Once, when her younger son was logging into a game, he found someone else was accessing his brother’s account, so he chatted with the person, who then demanded the Wei family pay money—saying that if they paid 1.2 million yuan, they would release him. Ms. Zhou tearfully said she is in poor health and the family cannot afford the ransom. The whole family is extremely worried and has reported to local police in Wugang, hoping her son can return home soon.