Shanghai dentist gives kidnappers the slip at highway toll booth

Staff at a highway toll station in Shandong Province came to the rescue of a Shanghai dentist, who was kidnapped from his clinic but managed to give his abductors a slip when their car stopped at the toll booth.

One kidnapper, identified as Liu Xiaobing, has already been arrested by police — on robbery charges, not kidnapping, according to the Baoshan District People’s Procuratorate, while the main suspect, identified as Wang Dachuan, is still at large. The information was released on Tuesday though the incident happened a couple of months ago.

According to the procuratorate, both Liu and Wang come from Shandong and planned to start a vegetable vending business in Shanghai. To raise the 150,000 yuan (US$22,915) booth rental fee, Wang planned to blackmail a Shanghai acquaintance, dentist Li Xin.

Liu visited Li’s clinic on September 20, claiming to know Wang, and soon started to pick on the dentist deliberately. During their dispute, Liu called Wang to the clinic as planned.

Wang pretended to be drunk after arriving at the clinic and started a fight with Li. Wang and Liu then tied up Li's hands and sealed his mouth with tape before driving to Liu’s rented house in a borrowed van.

They robbed 6,000 yuan in cash from Li and withdrew 10,000 yuan from his bank card before forcing the dentist to raise more money for them. Li then gave his car to the two suspects, who still refused to release him. The duo planned to take Li back to Shandong, saying they would only release the dentist after he recovers from the injury he picked up during the fight so as to avoid suspicion.

They drove Li’s car and left Shanghai at 10pm on September 21. Six hours later, the car reached Shandong’s Lusu toll station. Li found a chance to escape from the car when they were queuing in front of the toll gate. Unable to foil Li's escape, Liu and Wang drove away from the toll station.

With help from toll station staff, Li called up his son, who came to fetch his father back to Shanghai and reported to police.

According to the procuratorate, Liu was recently arrested and charged with robbery, while Wang is still at large, though no information was forthcoming on what charges he was being sought.

SHINE