A GANG of Triads kidnapped a Chinese chef and chained him to a radiator during a 12 day ordeal of violence and death threats, Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday. A Triad is a Chinese secret society.
Mr Xiao Ming Cao (25) was beaten as he was forced to make telephone calls from his north London prison to his family in China, in an attempt to convince them that if they wanted to see him alive again they must pay a £45,000 ransom.
The first, Scotland yard knew of these events was when officers received a telephone call from Mr Xiao's frightened relatives thousands of miles away in their remote village.
An international police operation was launched. As Mr Cao was forced to plead in one tearful phone conversation after another for his 19 year old wife to meet the kidnappers demands, detectives put a number of addresses under surveillance, said Mr Peter Clarke QC, prosecuting.
Finally, nearly two weeks after Mr Cao was abducted, officers carried out simultaneous raids on a number of properties. At a house in Holloway, north London, the badly bruised chef was found handcuffed to a radiator.
Four men were arrested on the premises and another just outside, the court heard.
The five, all Chinese nationals and allegedly members of a Triad gang, deny conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to falsely imprison and conspiracy to blackmail between last June 20th and July 4th.
Mr Clarke said Mr Cao, also a Chinese national, was kidnapped as he walked past Hendon Underground station, north London, on his way home from work last June 22nd.
His three Chinese abductors dragged him to a waiting car with a fourth man at the wheel, bundled him inside and drove him to the Holloway address that was to be his prison for the next 12 days.
"For the majority of the time Mr Cao was kept handcuffed to a radiator at the property and subjected to daily threats both to his physical well being and to his life. He was also subjected to frequent beatings by his captors," claimed counsel.
During more than 60 calls to a pay phone in his home village in China - sometimes every hour.
Mr Cao's family were repeatedly warned that he would only be released if they paid 500,000 Chinese yen (around £45,000).
The case continues.