Jail sentence for gambling debt kidnapper

A man has been sentenced to six months in jail for illegally detaining another man as part of a dispute over gambling debts, Yangpu District People's Court said Monday.

The defendant, surnamed Lou, 30, had been unemployed since graduating university, according to the court's press release. He met his victim, surnamed Shi, while gambling at the beginning of this year.

Shi lost all his money gambling, and wanted to borrow 1 million yuan ($163,439) from others. Lou agreed to serve as guarantor to Shi. Although Lou himself did not lend any money to Shi, he still required Shi to write a receipt confirming that he had borrowed 1 million yuan from Lou.

Early in the morning of April 9, Lou, together with some of his friends, abducted Shi at the gate of his residential compound.

They took him to a gambling den in Yangpu district, where they coerced him into giving them his car, cell phone, bank cards and driving license.

The abductors then took Shi to a hotel room, where they held him while they withdrew over 8,000 yuan from Shi's bank account.

They then forced Shi's family to transfer 50,000 yuan to their bank account. At around 10 am that day, the abductors released him.

The police arrested Lou and his cohorts on April 15, and Lou confessed to the crime.