An oil tycoon from Hong Kong kidnapped last month was rescued in Taiwan after surviving gruelling torture at the hands of his kidnappers, Taiwanese police said on Wednesday.
67-year-old Wong Yuk-kwan, who is the chairman of Pearl Oriental Oil, a Hong-Kong-listed oil exploration company, was abducted on 20 September from near his house in New Taipei, Taiwan.
The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of HK$70 million (US$9 million) through emails sent to his company office in Hong Kong. They wanted the ransom to be sent in bitcoins, according to AFP.
Wong had been kept in a small room at a shack in a village in Taiwan's Yunlin County and was reportedly beaten by his abductors and even had cigarette burns on his face, according to Focus Taiwan News Channel.
When he was rescued by the police on Tuesday, he was found with his feet shackled and with bruises and cuts on his body, AFP reported.
The village chief was among the suspects in the kidnapping and was arrested along with 14 others.
Wong's assets have been frozen since 2013 after he was charged with fraud and money-laundering by Hong Kong's anti-corruption watchdog.
Taiwanese police arrested the main suspect in the abduction from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and then carried out raids to nab others.
