Four Thai men arrested in Kamphaeng Phet over alleged abduction of Chinese woman
Four Thai men have been charged and detained over the alleged abduction of a Chinese woman who said she was restrained, assaulted and taken towards Mae Sot before being forced from a moving car in Kamphaeng Phet.
- Four Thai men have been charged and detained over the alleged abduction and assault of a Chinese woman.
- The woman said she was restrained, injured and taken towards Mae Sot before escaping in Kamphaeng Phet.
- Police are investigating whether the suspects were part of a wider cross-border trafficking operation.
KAMPHAENG PHET, THAILAND: Four Thai men have been arrested after a Chinese woman allegedly escaped from a vehicle in Kamphaeng Phet while being taken towards Mae Sot district in Tak province.
The woman told police she had been abducted from a Bangkok hotel, restrained and taken by car towards the Thai-Myanmar border area.
The case emerged on the night of 23 August 2026, when the woman escaped from the vehicle and sought help from people near a business in Mueang Kamphaeng Phet.
Local police later arrested two men and tracked down two others who had fled. Police said all four subsequently admitted they had been hired to transport the Chinese woman, although their accounts differed.
The woman's escape
In a Facebook post on 24 August, Mueang Kamphaeng Phet Police Station said officers received a report at about 21:00 on 23 August that a foreign national had been assaulted near a shop.
Police said officers checked the woman's passport and confirmed that she was Chinese.
According to the police account, she told officers that she had been abducted from a hotel and taken away in a vehicle.
"When she reached the scene, she tried to escape by jumping from the vehicle and ran to ask people for help," police said in the Facebook post, translated from Thai.
Officers took her to Kamphaeng Phet Hospital for wound treatment and a medical examination before reporting the incident to their superiors.
The police account confirms that the woman was seeking assistance shortly before the subsequent investigation and arrests.
Earlier police pursuit
The woman's escape led police to search for the vehicle believed to be involved.
According to earlier reports, the black Nissan Teana travelled through a police checkpoint in Kamphaeng Phet and allegedly failed to stop when officers attempted to inspect it.
Police pursued the vehicle towards Lan Dok Mai subdistrict.
Two suspects were initially arrested after the vehicle was stopped. Two others escaped from the area and went into hiding.
The first two men arrested were identified as Somkiat, 41, and Kittiporn, 24. Police later identified the two men who had escaped as Suchart, 41, and Kittisak, 22.
All four are from Mae Sot and Phop Phra districts in Tak province.
Two remaining suspects found
The latest development came at about 15:30 on 24 August, when police from the Kamphaeng Phet provincial investigation unit located the two men who had escaped.
According to the police Facebook account, officers found Suchart and Kittisak hiding at Wat Kanlapaphruek in Lan Dok Mai subdistrict, Mueang Kamphaeng Phet district.
Their arrests brought the total number of suspects in custody to four.
Police described the operation as the arrest of the complete group allegedly involved in taking the Chinese woman.
However, the arrests do not by themselves establish the allegations against the suspects, who remain subject to the ongoing legal process.
Suspects' accounts under investigation
Police said that during questioning, all four suspects admitted that they had been hired and had planned the operation to collect and transport the Chinese woman to Mae Sot district.
However, their accounts were not consistent.
"All the suspects admitted that they had been hired and had planned the job to pick up the Chinese woman and take her to Mae Sot, but their statements did not match," police said in their Facebook post, translated from Thai.
Police said further investigation and questioning would therefore be required.
The statement did not provide details of exactly who allegedly hired the men or explain why the woman was being taken to Mae Sot.
Those questions remain part of the investigation.
The woman's earlier account
The Chinese woman told investigators that she had planned to travel to Singapore but intended to visit Thailand first.
She said she met a woman during her flight who told her that a Chinese friend was living in Thailand.
The woman reportedly persuaded her to meet the friend after she arrived in Thailand.
The Chinese woman then stayed at a Bangkok hotel before a sedan arrived to collect her.
She said the vehicle stopped to pick up three other men. She then realised that she had allegedly been deceived.
According to her account, she tried to resist and leave the vehicle, but the men restrained her by tying her hands.
She also said one of the men struck her in the mouth with an elbow before her head was covered with a cloth.
The vehicle later reached Kamphaeng Phet, where she saw a police checkpoint.
She called for help, believing it was an opportunity to escape, but the driver allegedly accelerated through the checkpoint.
The woman eventually escaped from the vehicle and reached nearby residents, who helped her before police took her to hospital.
The four suspects remain in custody as the investigation continues.
