Ten kidnapped Chinese in Myanmar released

HANGZHOU, Jan. 24 (Chinese media) -- Ten kidnapped victims who were for ransom in Myanmar were returned to Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province on Friday evening following the earlier release of another 19 kidnapped victims from north China's Shanxi Province, provincial police said on Saturday.

The ten people were told by a man surnamed He that they could travel and gamble for free in Myanmar in 2008. All of them ran up debts through gambling and were detained there for a ransom payment, a Zhejiang provincial public security department official said.

Most of the ten people were from Tonglu County, Jiande City, Lin'an City and Fuyang City. They were illegally detained and assaulted by kidnappers in Myanmar, he said.

Abductions across the Myanmar border have been reported in Zhejiang since 2005, with a rise in reports in the latter half of 2008, he said.

The Zhejiang police returned to the border areas on Jan. 14. They rescued ten kidnapped victims and caught five suspects on Jan. 21.

The 19 known kidnapped victims from the Shanxi Province, most of whom were teenagers, were back home as of Friday, according to police in Yuncheng City.

The latest to return was Qiao Yabiao, 24, who crossed the Chinese border Friday morning, the Yanhu branch of the public security bureau of Yuncheng told Chinese media.