THREE gang leaders involved in kidnapping a businessman in Shenzhen and demanding 50 million yuan (US$8.16 million) had their sentences upheld by the Guangdong Higher People’s Court on Wednesday.

    The ransom was originally paid in gold bars, handed over at the Shenzhen airport in September 2013. Police later found part of the gold ransom in a Fujian Province pigsty.

    The court upheld the verdicts from the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, giving Zhang Jingguang a suspended death sentence, Lai Yijin life in jail and Lai Changjin 15 years in jail.

    Zhang Jingguang and Lai Changjin masterminded the kidnapping after they attended a gathering for businessmen from Fujian Province in Shenzhen in July 2013. The wealth of Zhang Quan, a deputy to the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress and chairman of Yuehai Global Logistics Co. Ltd., attracted their attention.

    In September 2013, the three men led a group that kidnapped Zhang in a parking lot in Futian District. They took him to an empty factory in Shajing, Bao’an District.

    The three demanded a ransom of 50 million yuan, which Zhang paid with 185 kilograms of gold. Zhang’s driver handed over the gold in the parking lot of Shenzhen International Airport on Sept. 23. Zhang Jingguang took 80 kilograms, Lai Yijin took 85 kilograms and Lai Changjin took 20 kilograms. On Sept. 24, they released Zhang.

    To hide the gold, the three men enlisted the help of friends and family, including Zhang’s father, brother and sister-in-law.

    Zhang was caught in his hometown in Fujian Province on Sept. 27, 2013. Police found 78 kilograms of gold in a pigsty and 2 kilograms at Zhang’s cousin’s home. The other suspects were caught in Dongguan, Guizhou and Yunnan. Lai Yijin and Lai Changjin were caught in October.

    All the gold has been recovered.

    The 17 other people who participated in the scheme were sentenced to jail for terms ranging between 15 months and four years. (Richard Han)