All the 19 known victims, mostly teenagers, held in Myanmar for ransom, have returned home as of Friday, said police in Yuncheng City.

The latest freed victim is 24-year-old Qiao Yabiao, who returned to China Friday, Yanhu branch of the public security bureau of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province in north China, told Xinhua.

The previously freed victim Shang Jianbing, aged 20, returned to China's southwest Yunnan Province on Thursday, neighbouring Myanmar, after his family paid 25,000 yuan (about US$3,676) in ransom, said the police in the boys' home town of Yuncheng.

All 19 were told by the kidnappers in Myanmar to gamble. However Qiao was the only one among them who did gamble, while the others refused, police said.

Qiao lost 100,000 yuan (about US$14,706) gambling.

He was held by kidnappers who demanded 55,000 yuan (US$8,045) from his family for his return, said Zhou Xin, head of the public security bureau of Yanhu District, Yuncheng.

Teenage abductions have been reported in six county-level regions of Yuncheng since August, 2008, particularly between August to October, said Ning Junjie, deputy head of the Yanhu bureau.

"The number of kidnapped might be higher than 19, but will not increase drastically," said Zhou.

Most of the kidnapped were aged between 16 and 22 years old, police said.

The kidnappers tricked their victims to go to Yunnan in search of business and work. However, they took them to Myanmar and ordered them to gamble.

Then the kidnappers confined their victims and phoned their families demanding ransom, police said.

Most of the boys returned because their families paid ransoms which ranged between 20,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan for each victim.

The police paid one ransom of 1,000 yuan for the return of 16-year-old Wang Jian. Wang's parents were too poor to afford the demand.

Wang said two of his childhood friends said to him he could find a job earning some 7,000 yuan a month in Myanmar. On Oct. 12, Wang and two other boys followed the two friends across the border into Myanmar from Kunming, Yunnan Province.

Once they arrived in Myitkyina, capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar, they were confined in a room at a casino. The kidnappers forced them to call home asking for ransom money.

Wang said a dozen of boys from Yuncheng were also being held in the casino. He recalled they were all starving, thirsty and frequently beaten. Wang was even forced to eat excrement and threatened with being thrown into a cage with a bear.

Wang returned home early this month, weak and malnourished, after police paid his ransom Dec. 31. He also had three burn marks on his left arm made by his kidnappers.

Another boy Qiao Linlei, 19, was held in Myanmar in August last year and returned after his family paid 40,000 yuan to the kidnappers.

Parents have been worried over the safety of their children and had to accompany them to school, said Qiao's father.

An initial investigation showed nine suspects were believed to be involved in the transport and kidnapping of the teenagers, said Zhang Yunbao, an officer of Yanhu bureau.

Two male suspects, named Zhang Donglin, 19, and Qin Ze, whose age was not available, had been arrested as of Wednesday. They were Shanxi natives.

One more suspect had been arrested as of Thursday, police said. But no more details had been revealed.

Most of the suspects were friends or school mates of the victims, police said.

Two other suspects have been identified but have not yet been found. Police were trying to identify the other four suspects.

Some of the victims told police they thought the kidnappers were in a gang and looked like Chinese ethnic minorities.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2009)