Ecotravel

Travel Tips - China - Guangzhou - Dongguan
I was assaulted, robbed and held captive for four hours.

I am writing this letter to share my experience with fellow

Singaporeans traveling to China.

  TRUE OR NOT, ALWAYS BE VIGILANT, WHEREVER YOU ARE!! 

DON'T FOLLOW STRANGERS, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE ALONE!!

ANYWAY, IT'S NOT A GOOD PRACTICE TO CARRY A POUCH BAG

NOWADAYS. IT TELL PEOPLE WHERE YOUR MONEY AND VALUABLES ARE!!

Letter from
05:55 AM Nov 03, 2010

ON OCT 12, I was heading to Shenzhen Airport when I decided to stop at
Dongguan for some last-minute shopping.

While there, I was assaulted, robbed and held captive for four hours.
I am writing this letter to share my experience with fellow Singaporeans traveling

to China.

An elderly woman approached me along a busy street in Changping
district to peddle some electronic items. She told me more of her
products were kept elsewhere and lured me into a nearby vacant house
where a group of men jumped on me and tied me up.

The muggers told me they had also kidnapped another person, a
Malaysian, who was in the room adjacent to where I was being held.
They were not interested in the few hundred renminbi I had on me but
went for my ATM card and demanded my PIN number. I refused and, for
the next two hours, they rained more than 30 punches on my head and body.

I came to realise later that it was pointless to resist them as it was
not worth risking my life over a $3,000 withdrawal. They released me,
and the other victim, two hours later after withdrawals

Before my release, one of the kidnappers told me their targets were
Hong Kongers, Singaporeans and Malaysians. These were the people they

believed to be richer and they identified them by the way these

nationalities wear a pouch bag.

It dawned on me that it had been a stupid move to have followed the
woman into an unknown place.

I made a police report at the Changping police station but was not
even given a carbon copy of my report.

Upon safely arriving back in Singapore, I obtained the assistance of
the staff at the United Overseas Bank who gave me information on the
location of the ATM in China and the time the robbers withdrew money
from my account. I was hoping that the ATM surveillance camera had
captured the faces of the robbers but to no avail.

For the next 10 days, I tried calling the Chinese investigating
officer (IO) in charge of my case but was unsuccessful. Subsequently,
as a last resort, I sought the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

When I finally got through to the Chinese IO recently, he told me that
such investigations take time and that I have to be patient even
though I had provided him with the ATM withdrawal details.

I am still recovering from the injuries I sustained from the punches
to my head and body. I urge Singaporeans to take extra care when
traveling to China and to stay alert when out in the streets.