3 Chinese Indicted in Conspiracy to Kidnap Compatriot

Three Chinese nationals were indicted Friday for conspiracy in a plot to kidnap a Chinese tourist who was visiting the Southland.

Carl F. Zhang, 31, John F. Zhang, 24, and Mary Wang, 30, conspired to abduct Zhou Xing Ping, a Chinese businessman touring the United States, and force him to leave California, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

On Oct. 13, 1993, the Zhang brothers forced Zhou from his Rosemead hotel, handcuffed and hit him on the head as they threw him to the floor of a car. For the next two days, the two Zhangs and another unidentified man held Zhou at two hotels. For 48 hours, Zhou was bound, masked, gagged and forced to sit in bathrooms, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

The kidnapers repeatedly beat and interrogated Zhou about money borrowed from two government-owned banks in the People’s Republic of China that he had not repaid because of business losses, the U.S. attorney said. The captors took Zhou’s belongings, including his credit cards, and stole money with his bank credit card, Assistant U.S. Atty. Saul D. Brenner said.

But the plot to abduct Zhou failed when the Zhang brothers brought him to Los Angeles International Airport on Oct. 15. Zhou escaped by screaming for help at the security checkpoint. The Zhangs fled and were later arrested in the Chicago area.

Mary Wang, a former business associate of Zhou, allegedly assisted in the conspiracy by giving the Zhang brothers information about Zhou’s location in California. Wang also attempted to lure Zhou to several locations where the Zhang brothers waited, Brenner said. Wang has not yet been arrested.