Thai police have found the body of a woman, believed to be a Chinese student who was reported to have been kidnapped for ransom, in a banana plantation in Bang Yai district in Nonthaburi province.

The body was found yesterday (Saturday) in a bag in the plantation in Village 6, Bang Yai sub-district, by a villager who alerted the Bang Yai police. Knife wounds were found on the body and a sheet was tied around the neck. Forensic officers estimate that the victim died 3-4 days ago.

The villager said he sensed a strong odour of decomposition as he was riding a motorcycle and stopped to investigate. He said he found the body in a ditch.

Police at Thammasala police station received a formal report on Friday (April 31^st) from Mingkwan Narkhirun, an advisory lecturer at Bangkok Thonburi University, stating that one of his music students, 22-year-old Jin Can, had been reported kidnapped in Thailand.

Mingkwan told the police that he received a call from the student’s father in China, saying that a stranger had called him on 29^th March, using her daughter’s VSAT application, demanding that a ransom of 500,000 yuan (~2.5 million baht) be wired to Bank of China account, number 6217853600064XXX196, in the name of “Wand Feihu”, in exchange for the freedom of her daughter.  The stranger also sent an image of the student with her hands and legs tied.

He also said that the father did not pay the ransom, fearing that it was just a prank.

The lecturer said that the university ordered an investigation and discovered that Jin Can had last been seen at the fountain of the university between 5pm and 7pm on the same day that her father received the ransom call.

Police checked the CCTV system at the university and found that she had left the campus in a taxi, which took her to the Central Westgate shopping mall in Bang Yai. They are now tracing the taxi driver for questioning. Appearance