10 hours to save son from kidnapper, blackmailer for 15 billion VND

The boy was rescued and returned safely to his family. Photo: VTC News

"There's no way to kidnap someone in broad daylight like that," Mr. Chien calmly told his wife after the call, which was at 7:04 p.m. on August 14. But sensing something was wrong, Mr. Chien picked up his wife's phone and called her back. As soon as he heard his voice, the other end hung up.

About 10 minutes earlier, neighbors around the villa area in Viet Hung ward, Long Bien district were also buzzing about the suspicion of a kidnapping that had just happened. At this time, Mr. Chien and his wife just believed that their 7-year-old son had been kidnapped, so they immediately went to the ward police station to report it. At the same time, dozens of people gathered to examine the security camera data of Mr. Chien's house and neighboring houses to find "evidence".

Mr. Chien's son, commonly known as Ken, is 7 years old and often rides his bike around the villa area with his friends in the afternoon. At around 6:45 p.m., according to camera data, Ken was riding his bike on the internal road, about 10 meters from the house, when the kidnapper opened the car door, blocked the way, and dragged him into the car. When the kidnapper's car sped away, the boy's bike was left lying around.

In the car, the kidnapper wrapped black tape around Ken's mouth and forced him to sit still in the back seat. At one point, he even pulled out a black pistol from his left pocket, pointed it at the boy and said, "Do you know what this is? If you don't sit still, I'll shoot you until your head is broken," Chien recounted his son's story.

This morning, little Ken said that although he was scared, he did not cry. He bought bread but he did not eat it because he was afraid it was poisoned. "While in the car, he yelled and told me to read my parents' phone number, so I read my mother's number. I was very scared but I did not want him to get agitated or angry, so I just sat still," Ken said.

Mr. Chien said that since 7:30 p.m., his wife has been receiving calls from the kidnapper, asking her to prepare money. At first, his family said that it was urgent and it was late at night, so they only had about 7 billion VND. However, the blackmailer did not agree and demanded the full 15 billion VND.

"You don't need the child, you just need the money, right?", the kidnapper's voice rang out, making Mr. Chien and his wife so scared "they thought their hearts would stop beating". Mobilizing all resources, Mr. Chien collected 13 billion VND, USD and Vietnamese currency, all in denominations of 500,000 VND.

As requested, the couple put the money in a black zippered cloth bag. The kidnapper requested that only Mr. Chien's wife drive with the money, and that the location would be announced later. He also threatened that if anyone was found following him, "it would be bad". The suspect continuously used different phone numbers to contact them. As soon as the call ended, Mr. Chien's wife called back but found the phone was turned off.

That whole night, Mr. Chien and his wife were "sitting on fire", only knowing to pray for their child to return safely. At nearly 2am on August 15, the kidnapper continued to call and threaten: "I told you, but you didn't listen to me? Drive on the road alone." After only a few seconds of calling, he hung up, so Mr. Chien's wife had to text him to ask for the destination.

After more than 2 hours, the robber called back and asked Mr. Chien's wife to drive alone to the first destination, Thanh Tri Bridge. He then asked her to go around many different places, from the inner city to the suburbs, and finally onto the Phap Van - Cau Gie highway.

During the trip, the suspect repeatedly called Mr. Chien's wife. The calls lasted 20-30 minutes, asking her not to turn off her phone so he could check and give her instructions.

When approaching the Vuc Vong intersection, passing through Duy Tien town, Ha Nam province, the suspect asked Mr. Chien's wife to stop the car on the right side of the highway. At that time, he was waiting on the service road below, which was dark because there was no street light and no residents.

Mr. Chien said that at the kidnapper's request, his wife opened the car door, picked up the bag of money in the passenger seat, crossed the median and went down to the driveway. When she reached the car parked there, she approached and opened the bag of money for the kidnapper to see. Seeing the large amount of money, he took it and tried to run away.

Ken's mother rushed out to block the car, "begging for my child back," but the kidnapper continued to drive slowly, saying that he would return her in a few hundred meters. Determined not to stop, she clung to the car door and followed, crying and pleading, "If you have the money, give me back my child. Ken, I'm here."

After driving a short distance, the kidnapper stopped the car and returned the boy to his family. In the dark of night, he sped away but was soon caught by the police. While being surrounded, the suspect used a rubber bullet gun to fight back, injuring a police officer in the thigh.

The entire process of Mr. Chien's wife's communication and meeting was monitored by the police and Mr. Chien from afar. Mr. Chien said he did not know the suspect and his family had no conflicts with anyone. Ken returned home safely, so he just hopes the incident will be over soon so he can return to normal life.

The kidnapper was identified as Nguyen Duc Trung, 31 years old, from Vinh Phuc. Initially, Trung said that due to debt, he had the idea of ​​kidnapping children for ransom. On the evening of August 14, Trung drove around Viet Hung urban area many times and discovered Ken riding a bicycle, so he restrained and kidnapped him.

At 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, Hanoi Police will hold a press conference to inform about the incident.

According to VnExpress