By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Police were dumb enough to fail to catch a group of kidnappers in their grasp but the kidnappers were dumber still and identified themselves.

On Saturday, police caught one of the two kidnappers, Shim, who abducted a female bakery owner in western Seoul Tuesday night with a sedan.

The kidnappers demanded 70 million won in ransom, and released her 19 hours later after her husband handed over counterfeit bills prepared by police officers who prepared the fake money and put it in a bag with a GPS attached. After the husband handed the bag over to one of the kidnappers ― on a motorcycle ― police chased him in eight cars and four motorbikes, to no avail. He then took the money and abandoned the bag elsewhere.

The kidnappers stole a car and a motorcycle and rehearsed the kidnapping, with the motorcycle with the money in front and the sedan with the hostage following behind. They also removed the license plate of their sedan in advance so as not to be apprehended for stealing a car ― but replaced it with that of Shim's car, disclosing his identity. Police examined CCTV recordings and identified him.

The kidnappers were clever enough to abandon the GPS-installed bag but not enough to detect that the money was fake. It was not until they released the hostage and celebrated the ``success'' of their crime in a motel that they learned the money was counterfeit.

Even though a suspect was caught and the hostage was safely released, the police are facing criticism for the amateurish operation. They lacked a contingency plan for losing the suspect in a chase and did not consider the possibility of the kidnappers harming their hostage upon finding out the money was fake.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr