Mainland Authorities Hand Over Seven Kidnap Suspects

Seven people suspected of being linked to the kidnapping of a cryptocurrency trader in Hong Kong last November have been arrested by mainland authorities and handed over to the SAR, police sources said on Friday.

Hong Kong police had laid charges against eight other people for allegedly abducting a man and holding him for about a week at a squatter hut in Tai Po, where he was said to have been badly beaten.

Guangdong authorities arrested seven other suspects in Shanwei and Foshan over the past few days, a source said.

Police are expected to press charges against the new suspects later.

Last year, officers reported that a 39-year-old man was kidnapped by a gang in Kowloon Bay on November 6 as he met someone who had claimed online to be interested in buying digital currency.

The man was allegedly lured to an industrial building in the area, before being taken to a container terminal and later a remote squatter hut in Nam Hang Tsuen.

Police said the alleged kidnappers demanded a HK$30 million ransom from the man's family, but this was not paid. The alleged victim managed to escape on November 12, officers said.