Mark Cheng Jin Quan is said to be on a one-day trip to Thailand on January 9, but he ended up being held captive, drugged, and tortured in a kidnapping that was allegedly masterminded by his traveling companion, fellow Singaporean Kim Lee Yao Wei.
Mark Cheng Jin Quan. Image via sg.news
Thai actor Chano Pemberger, whom the car police said was used in the kidnapping, is also under investigation because his car was tagged in the alleged crime. Thai sources said the car used in the abduction was registered to Pemberger, a 24-year-old actor who appeared in several soap operas a few years ago.
Mark Cheng Jin Quan was arrested, tortured, and kept a $ 1 million ransom of S $ 740,000. He spoke in a phone interview for four days, after he escaped his captors. He said he was in a safe house provided by Thai police on January 14.
Cheng was captured by a trusted friend
Cheng and Lee flew into Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport last week and took a taxi together. The kidnapper Lee allegedly requested to stop at a gas station about an hour southeast of the capital of Chachoengsao province, where they were thought to be ambushed by a group of masked people and crashed into a colored Ford Ranger then they were taken north to the Kabin Buri district of Prachinburi province.
Cheng was then beaten and forced to pay bitcoin for his freedom but escaped. Thai police on Sunday arrested Singapore kidnapper Lee Wei Kim, and recovered most of the ransom, worth 1.4 million baht (US $ 46,000) and were paid in bitcoin by Mark Cheng Jin Quan.
He was charged with robbery, illegal detention, assault and illegal firearms possession. Police said he had confessed to all the crimes, including robbery, illegal detention, assault and illegal firearms possession.
Cheng’s allegations of fraud
Cheng, who is not an angel – was charged in Singapore last year for dishonest appropriation of more than S $ 300,000 from an investment company in 2014 and is now on bail. Hew founded a start-up non-profit organization called the Avelife Foundation and just four years ago was personally awarded an award from Queen Elizabeth to a project to help seniors trade recyclable materials for groceries.
Further research has revealed that Mark has worked as an advisor to Singapore’s blockchain start-up ‘X Infinity,” which lists young entrepreneurs with nine years of experience in venture capital investment and commercialization.
Read more:
- America Has Lost Its 1st Place In Bitcoin Transaction Volume For The First Time, Singapore Is No.1
- Monetary Authority Of Singapore (MAS) Warns Of Bitcoin Fraud Sites