Kidnappings in Fuzhou?
TweetThere's been a worrying series of reports recently in Fuzhou about kidnappings - yep, good old-fashioned 'bundle-you-into-a-van-and-pay-ransom' type kidnappings.
Most of the reports are coming through Weibo and forums, and not (yet) through official media, so there's a bit of a disclaimer here. Remember in China, nothing is what it seems - this could be a government coverup, a complicated marketing tactic, or an untrue rumour....nobody knows.
Anyway, the story is that in the last couple of weeks, a number of people have been kidnapped or victim of an attempted kidnapping. A van pulls up alongside the victim, and a couple of people jump out and bundle them into the van. Later they ask for a ransom.
In one instance, a bystander said the people jumped out and shouted something like "where have you been? I told you to come home at 4pm!" or something similar to a young person, before pulling them into the van.
In another instance (photos here) the kidnapper jumped into a car carrying a mother and child and attempted to kidnap them.
It's kind of worrying, but there's nothing official come out yet to say what is happening or whether this is a genuine series of crimes, or perhaps the Chinese internet rumour mill going wild. Scary stuff.