The video of a kidnapped Chinese student was made public. After being abused for 10 days, his father redeemed him with 80 bitcoins. It’s heartbreaking!

In recent years, there have been frequent incidents of Chinese students being threatened with personal safety while studying abroad. Just on the 23rd of last month, another Chinese student in Australia was kidnapped, which attracted widespread attention from the society.

The kidnapped student was a freshman at the University of Technology Sydney.

According to the kidnapped student's parents, the kidnappers first asked the student's father for his email address on WeChat.

At around 14:00 the next day, the kidnapper sent a video to the student’s father using his WeChat ID, saying:

"Your son is in our hands now. If you don't want him to get into trouble, cooperate with our request."

Then, a ransom message was sent via email, demanding 80 bitcoins. 80 bitcoins is equivalent to RMB 5.748 million, which is a sky-high price for an ordinary family.

However, in the eyes of parents, children's lives are priceless, and parents are willing to pay any price for their children.

In exchange for his child's safety, his father agreed to the kidnappers' demands and raised 5.748 million yuan.

Fortunately, no accidents occurred after the huge ransom was paid, and yesterday news came that the student returned home safely and was reunited with his family.

While the student was kidnapped, he suffered multiple electric shocks and after he was redeemed, many bloody holes were visible on his body.

In the "help video" sent back by the kidnappers three days after being kidnapped, the student's face was covered in blood and he was weak. He left a message:

"I have been kidnapped for three days. I am cold and hungry. Please rescue me."

Which parent wouldn’t feel heartbroken seeing this scene?

According to his father, "He was badly injured. He was kidnapped for ten days and nine nights, trapped in a car, with his hands tied with ropes and his feet chained."

There were multiple festering wounds on his body, which were burns from electric shock guns. It was reported that he had been beaten many times for resisting.

The student is currently receiving treatment in the hospital, and his father said he is most worried about his child's mental condition.

When the case first happened, many netizens speculated that the case was staged by the student himself. Even now, when the person has returned safely, there are still many such voices on the Internet:

If he directed and acted it himself, then the wound on his face was too realistic? Besides, his home was not a place of wealth, so asking for money was like asking for his family's life, wasn't it?

His father said that the police determined that this case was a kidnapping case and the kidnapper was of Chinese descent. The kidnapper communicated with the victim in Chinese throughout the process, but because he was masked, the kidnapped student did not recognize the kidnapper's face.

Although returning safely is a blessing, behind this is the huge pressure that the family has to bear, and how unfortunate they are.

The child's life was redeemed for nearly 5.75 million RMB, a huge ransom that would put even an upper-middle-income family in deep debt.

Who can seek justice for them?

After the news spread, netizens also issued a series of deadly questions: "Where are the kidnappers? Where are the police?"

The Australian police are still investigating the case and have not yet caught the kidnappers.

What’s infuriating is that some keyboard warriors with distorted values ​​on the Internet have started to make anti-rich remarks and kept targeting the clothes in a certain photo of the student.

(Photo wearing a Gucci T-shirt, source: Beijing News)

Some people even blamed the tragedy entirely on studying abroad:

Being able to study abroad does mean that the family has some savings, but not every family with students studying abroad has a mine. Moreover, how can outsiders know where the ransom came from? How can they imagine the pressure involved?

Let's take a step back and say that the kidnapped student's family is indeed rich. Assuming that is the case, does being rich mean that he deserves to be kidnapped? Does studying abroad mean that he deserves to be kidnapped?

The values ​​of some keyboard warriors really need to be corrected...

This kidnapping case of a Chinese student in Australia reminds people of a famous kidnapping case in Hong Kong - the kidnapping of Li Ka-shing's son in 1996.

The kidnappers demanded HK$2 billion and went to Li Ka-shing in person to negotiate.

One is a business tycoon, the other is a thief. Li Ka-shing did not call the police, but offered money in exchange for his life, and the kidnapper Zhang Ziqiang also paid the money and released him as promised.

The conversation between the kidnappers and Li Ka-shing at that time was quite courageous and was cited as a classic by later generations:

Li Ka-shing: I am Li Ka-shing.

Zhang Ziqiang: Very good, my name is Zhang Ziqiang.

Li Ka-shing: Zhang Ziqiang?

Zhang Ziqiang: Mr. Li, I think you must know me.

Li Ka-shing: Then Mr. Zhang, please tell me if you have any request.

Zhang Ziqiang: To show my sincerity, I come to your house in person to discuss the matter. Are you welcome?

Li Ka-shing: You are most welcome. What time will you arrive? We are always at your service.

Zhang Ziqiang: I am already on my way to your house. I don’t think I need to repeat myself. You should know the rules.

Li Ka-shing: Please rest assured, as long as my son’s safety is guaranteed, I promise not to call the police.

No matter if you are as wealthy as a country or from a well-off working-class family, if you have money, of course you will choose to exchange money for life. Only if you have no money will you exchange life for money.

The kidnappers were open and honest from the beginning, and Li Ka-shing kept his word and eventually gave the kidnappers HK$1.038 billion as a ransom.

However, Zhang Ziqiang, who received a huge ransom, did not follow Li Ka-shing's advice: use the money to invest or deposit it in a bank, and live a worry-free life.

They robbed gold shops and money transport vehicles, and after kidnapping Li Ka-shing's son, they also kidnapped Hong Kong's second richest man, Guo Bingxiang. How could such a vicious and vicious bandit stop there?

After gambling away all his savings, Zhang Ziqiang continued to rob for a living, but ultimately could not escape the fate of being shot.

This famous kidnapping case later became the inspiration for the film series "Chasing the Dragon".

Li Ka-shing is a well-known richest man. The kidnappers kidnapped Li Ka-shing's son because they were attracted by his wealth. They are very brave and skilled.

But it’s different for international students studying abroad.

HK$1 billion may be just a financial deficit for Li Ka-shing, but for an ordinary overseas student family, nearly RMB 6 million is not enough to pay the ransom. Even if they don't borrow money from everywhere, they may have to sell their house and car to raise the ransom.

At present, there are still many doubts in the case.

It is reported that the remittance channel required by the kidnappers is the Firecoin account, which is one of the leading platforms in the domestic currency circle. A blockchain practitioner revealed that the Bitcoin remittance received from this account from other accounts needs to be converted into RMB after the French currency transaction, and the French currency transaction requires real-name authentication.

This may be a breakthrough in this kidnapping case.

As for the details of the case, the Australian police are still investigating and are unable to make further comments. The Daily News will continue to pay attention to subsequent related reports.

Source/Author: North American International Student Daily