Two held after Chinese tourist escapes alleged abduction in Kamphaeng Phet

Police arrested two Thai men and are searching for two others after a Chinese tourist allegedly abducted from Bangkok escaped from their car during a pursuit in Kamphaeng Phet on Sunday night, August 23, 2026.

Police said the woman’s hands had been bound with cable ties and that the group appeared to be taking her towards Mae Sot district in Tak, near the border.

The incident began at about 9pm when a black Bangkok-registered Nissan Teana drove through a checkpoint outside the Chula police box in central Kamphaeng Phet. The woman shouted to officers before the driver accelerated away.

During the pursuit, the woman told investigators, she opened a door and escaped from the moving vehicle. She ran to a nearby salon and knocked for help. Members of the public and police then arranged for her to be taken to Kamphaeng Phet Hospital for treatment and a medical examination.

Tourist Police officers and a Chinese-language interpreter accompanied her to Mueang Kamphaeng Phet Police Station, where she gave a statement.

Police identified the arrested men as Somkiat Thakaeo, 41, and Kittiporn Winya, 24, both from Mae Sot district. Officers said two other men fled into woodland after the vehicle was stopped and remained at large. One had been identified, while investigators were still working to establish the identity of the other.

The woman said she had arrived in Thailand as a tourist while travelling to Singapore and had checked into a Bangkok hotel. She said she communicated by telephone with someone she believed was a tour guide, although she had never met that person.

According to her statement, a sedan collected her from the hotel and later stopped to pick up three men. She said she realised she had been deceived, tried to leave, and was restrained after the men took her telephone. She also said one of them struck her in the mouth with an elbow.

Police initially said the suspects had pushed or abandoned her on Ratchadamnoen Road. In her subsequent statement, however, she said she had opened the door and escaped herself.

Police followed the vehicle towards Lan Dokmai subdistrict and fired at one of its tyres, according to Pol Maj Chakkaphet Khrueacha, an inspector at Mueang Kamphaeng Phet Police Station. The damaged tyre brought the car to a halt.

Kittiporn, whom police identified as the driver, told investigators that Somkiat had hired him for B10,000 to collect the woman from the Bangkok hotel. He said he drove a short distance before stopping to pick up Somkiat and the two other men, and claimed he was told not to become involved when the woman was restrained.

Pol Lt Col Suwich Phit-on, who is overseeing the case, said investigators were questioning the two arrested men, examining possible links to other people and searching for the two fugitives.