Sanitiser snatch: Man arranged kidnap over hand sanitiser debt

A business dispute over payment for imported hand sanitiser saw a man described as a “leader of his community” pay $5000 to get a businessman kidnapped from his Auckland address.

Details of the bizarre sanitiser inspired snatch can now be revealed after Rotorua man Qiang Liu​ entered a guilty plea to one change of kidnap at Rotorua District Court on Thursday.

According to his charge sheet, Liu “procured person unknown to unlawfully take away Lei Pan without his consent to hold him for ransom”.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.

According to the police summary of facts, the dispute began in early 2020 when Pan entered into a deal to acquire and import hand sanitiser products from a Chinese company for USD$165,264.00.

The company was part owned by Liu’s uncle, Bin Wang, who is also known to Pan.

The relationship became strained, “when the complainant did not make payment for the purchased hand sanitiser products”.

This prompted Liu, sometime between April 1 and June 16 last year, to meet “with an unknown person (kidnapper) at an unknown address in Rotorua”.

“The defendant engaged the kidnapper to capture the complainant and drive him to Rotorua to scare him into repaying the money.”

Liu told the kidnapper to capture Pan “and hold him in the boot of a vehicle overnight”.

The summary said Liu provided the kidnapper with a photograph of Pan, and an invoice for the USD$165,264.00 owed.

“The defendant paid the kidnapper $5000 in consideration for providing the service.”

On June 16 last year, the kidnapper and two other unknown persons took Pan from his Henderson address after he was “forcibly placed into the back seat of a BMW vehicle and driven to an unknown address”.

“When the complainant spoke, he was punched in the face. The complainant was blindfolded and one of the kidnappers told him, ‘hey bro, you need to pay the bill’.

Pan was kept at an address overnight with is arms and feet bound, shown the invoice and the next day, driven to an unknown address in Rotorua.

He was then questioned about how much money he had and driven back to Auckland “to retrieve money”.

However, police were at Pan’s address after he had been reported missing, and the kidnappers released him in a nearby street.

He waved down a vehicle that took him to Henderson Police Station.

“When spoken to by police, the defendant stated that the complainant owes his uncle a lot of money.”

Liu’s lawyer Philip Morgan KC said his client was “a leader in his community” and admitted he faced a “very serious charge”.

He also claimed “this is not an ordinary case”.

Judge Marie McKenzie granted Liu bail and set a nominal call over date of March 1 to set a sentencing date.