Kidnappers Release Son of Ministry Official

The son of a senior Interior ministry official returned home unharmed in the early hours of yesterday morning after being kidnapped and held hostage for more than two weeks by four armed men in Phnom Penh. The perpetrators kidnapped the 42-year-old son of Interior Ministry Undersecretary of State Sau Phan on Oct 9 as he was driving home. Mr Arnaud was pulled from his car by four men in Russei Keo district, bundled into a Lexus and driven away. The Kidnappers then contacted Mr Arnaud’s mother demanding a $1 million ransom for his safe return. Mr Phan said his son had arrived home at about 2 am yesterday morning and that his family had not paid the $1 million in ransom money. “The kidnappers kidnapped the wrong person. They did not mean to kidnap my son,” Mr Phan said. “My son and his wife are just ordinary people who sell clothes at Soriya shopping center, with no money to pay a $1 million or half a million ransom, so last night he was freed without paying any money.” Police said they were unaware that Mr Arnaud had been returned home or why he was freed if no ransom had been paid. “We could not cooperate with this case because police officials tried to hide it,” Said Pong Savrith, deputy chief of Phnom Penh municipal military police. But a minor crimes police officer, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said that many believe the family of the victim had paid somewhere in the kidnappers to guarantee their son’s release. “There is a rumor that the victim’s family paid the kidnappers,” the officer said. “Some people say the family paid half a million dollars; others say they did not pay anything.” General Mok Chito, chief of the Interior Ministry’s penal police, who was in charge of the kidnapping case, could not be reached for comment.