BANGKOK (AFP) - A GANG headed by a policeman kidnapped five children in eastern Thailand as they were being driven to school, killing one girl so she would not identify them, a top police official said Sunday.

Four kidnappers abducted a six-year-old boy and four girls aged three, six, 14 and 16, in Chachoengsao province on Friday morning, said deputy national police chief Jongruk Jutanond.

The 39-year-old man driving the youth was also kidnapped, and the abductors demanded a three-million-baht (S$125,000) ransom from the man's family. The driver was related to all of the kidnapped children.

The driver's 14-year-old niece was found dead Saturday in Chonburi province near Bangkok, while his 16-year-old daughter survived with injuries and told police who were her father's captors.

'The policeman involved in the kidnapping was close to this family. They tried to kill them (the girls) to prevent them from telling the truth,' he said.

The kidnappers released the three smaller children on Saturday, and police arrested two people later that day, including a police corporal, who Jongruk said had gambling debts.

'They confessed that they had kidnapped people for ransom,' he said.

The driver and two of the suspected abductors remain missing.

Is this article useful to you?