Man ‘kidnapped at gunpoint and held in cage over £12,000,000 Bitcoin ransom’
A Chinese businessman was abducted from a golf course in the UK by a gang who demanded a £12 million ransom in Bitcoin, a court has heard.
Dylan Huang was on a championship course at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire with his PA and two other women when the attack happened.
Five masked men raced towards the group, pointing a gun at him, before forcing him into the back of a black Audi Q7.
Prosecutor Russell Pyne detailed the ordeal at St Albans Crown Court where one of the alleged kidnappers is on trial.
He said: ‘When Mr Huang kicked at the door of the car, he was told he would be killed with a knife.
‘He was put into the footwell of the car and three of his captors had their feet on him.
‘A cover was put over his head. During the journey cuffs were applied to his hands and legs.’
Meanwhile, the three women were left distressed as the gang had sprayed them with an unknown substance.
The court was told the victim was then taken to a property in Surrey where he was held in a cage, where he could not stand up.
He was blindfolded and his mouth was taped closed. He was given food, but was not allowed out to use the lavatory, it is alleged.
The prosecutor added: ‘The men wanted to be paid £12 million ransom in Bitcoin. Mr Huang said he had stocks and shares but they could not be accessed straight away.
‘He spoke to his wife on the phone and had conversations with three of his friends for loans.
‘After several hours it seemed that the kidnappers were getting angry. They started to hurt him – hitting his leg with some sort of an object.’
After 30 hours in the cage, Mr Huang was driven off in a car and released in a remote area near the Silvermere Golf course in Cobham, Surrey, close to the junction of the M25 and A3.
Desperate to get home, he knocked on a random door, pleading with the resident inside to order him an Uber to his home in Mill Hill, north London.
Tianfu Guo, of no fixed address, denies three charges in connection with the kidnapping – conspiracy to kidnap and blackmail, and possession of an imitation firearm.
The court heard the 35-year-old was arrested in Chinatown just an hour before Mr Huang’s release.
Mr Pyne said the defendant had been driving an Audi Q5 that had been tracked on an ANPR camera travelling in convoy with the Audi Q7 with false registration plates, close to Brocket Hall.
The next day the Q5, a hire car with genuine registration plate, had been tracked to an area just off the A3 south of Guildford.
Police followed the vehicle into London, where Guo was arrested with more than £4,000 on him along with Chinese passports and identity cards belonging to others.
Mr Pyne told the jury that six other suspects are out of the jurisdiction. The jury were told their names are: Liang Tang, Wen Ji Nan, Xianchao Chen, Yazhou Tao, Yuan Gui Jin and Hanzhi Jiang.
‘They are not here the police have not been able to arrest them. It is believed they are all back in China,’ he said.
The trial continues.
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