Second man arrested in connection to kidnapping scam
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2019 (1875 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A man’s alleged attempt to stage his own kidnapping as a way to get money from his parents sparked a year-long Winnipeg Police Service investigation that resulted in a second arrest this week.
It started with a video, sent electronically to a 31-year-old man’s parents in China in late February 2018, in which purported kidnappers demanded money and gave the parents a deadline to send it. It’s unclear whether the parents sent money. They contacted the man’s wife, who couldn’t reach him — he wasn’t answering his phone. Fearing for his safety, she called Winnipeg police.
Police found the man at a residence in the 100 block of Arden Avenue. He was not hurt and showed no sign of being under duress. The kidnapping investigation switched to an extortion investigation, and 31-year-old Yang Xi was arrested March 1, 2018.
More than a year went by before police could arrest another suspect, Ji Zhang, 24. Police believed he was involved in the kidnapping plot but had returned to China. Investigators got an arrest warrant, which was executed when Zhang returned to Winnipeg this week. He was arrested after being stopped by border officials following his flight to the Winnipeg airport March 19.
“I’ve been a police officer for 17 years with Winnipeg,” said WPS spokesman Const. Orlando Buduhan Thursday. “I haven’t seen an extortion scheme like this where the victim in the kidnapping ends up being the one who orchestrated it all. It’s a pretty rare incident.”
Xi and Zhang are both from China and were living in Winnipeg. Both were detained in custody following their arrests.
