AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Two Chinese migrants were imprisoned Tuesday for kidnapping a 6-year-old Taiwanese boy at knifepoint and demanding a 400,000 New Zealand dollars ($176,000) ransom.
Xiang Jun Wei, 27, was sentenced to 16 years and Wei Hua Liu, 24, to 14 years when they appeared in the Auckland High Court. The pair had earlier pleaded guilty.
Xiang and Wei snatched the child at knifepoint from his home in New Zealand’s most populous city, Auckland, on April 8.
The boy’s parents alerted police immediately.
On April 9, after picking up the ransom money in full, the men dropped the unharmed child at a deserted truck depot where he was found by family members.
