Taiwanese prosecutors have dropped charges against three individuals accused of kidnapping, after learning that the incident was a staged “surprise marriage proposal” that went wrong.
In March, 24-year-old Yang, of the north-western city of Taoyuan, decided to propose to her girlfriend, Huang. She wanted the experience to be memorable, so she hired twomen through a part-time job search app to stage a “kidnapping”.
The two men, both 19, were each promised 4,000 new Taiwan dollars (£112.47) after the job was completed.
The plan was drawn up, and the men burst into Huang’s flat in the early hours of 17 March. They took her away in a large suitcase. which they placed in the boot of a car and drove towards the local household registration office, where marriage certificates are issued.
Butthey arrived at the office too early, so the two men and Yang pulled over outside a nearby supermarket, while Huang remained in the suitcase.
Sensing the car had stopped, Huang found a way to open the suitcase and and the car boot. According to local news reports, she jumped out and shouted: “Help! I was kidnapped.”
A police officer who happened to be walking past immediately arrested the two men. Yang rushed away, but Huang spotted her and later called to ask her why she had done it.
Seeing the plan had gone wrong, Yang admitted that she was behind the botched plot. She said her intention was merely to give Huang a memorable surprise before asking her to marry her.
The two men said the original plan was that they would park outside the registration office, where Yang would propose to Huang. They also said they had intentionally left the suitcase zip loose so that Huang would not suffocate.
The police were shocked, Taiwanese media reported, and sent Yang and the two men to the prosecutors in Taoyuan. They examined the three individuals’ text messages, decided it was indeed a surprise proposal that had gone terribly wrong and eventually dropped the kidnapping charges.
