TWO men were sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 24,000 yuan ($3,800) each for kidnapping by the Pudong New Area People's Court in Shanghai yesterday.
The duo held a couple to ransom and demanded 1 million yuan from them.
According to the court, one of the kidnappers, surnamed Zeng, used to be a property agent but was sacked from the job. Soon after he ran into monetary problems and hit upon the idea of kidnapping along with his friend Deng. They decided to target one of Zeng's former customers.
On September 20, the duo, armed with knives, tapes and ropes, reached the couple's house and got them hooked on to a conversation. After a while, they attacked them, and tied their hands and feet with the ropes.
They demanded 1 million yuan or threatened to use alcohol and set the house on fire. But the couple only had 2,000 yuan on them.
Zeng and Deng were caught by the police when they were withdrawing money from the ATM with the couple's bank account.
