A former police sergeant was arrested over the abduction and extortion of Chinese tourists in Thailand.

Police Sergeant Major Weerayuth Petcharat, 34, allegedly worked with a kidnapping gang to abduct the five Chinese victims from their hotel in Bangkok in April last year.

The group were said to have demanded 2.5 million baht (75,000 USD) in cryptocurrency from the businessmen before releasing them. The tourists then filed a report with police on April 29.

Authorities said they have obtained CCTV footage showing that the suspects posed as hotel guests before barging into the businessmen's room on the 14th floor. They reportedly pretended to be cops and threatened to file charges against the tourists 'over offences related to a credit card reader'.

Fearing they would be jailed, the Chinese men agreed to follow the gang out of the hotel before being abducted.

Further investigations found that one of the suspects, Weerayuth, was an actual cop. He was traced to a housing estate in Prachuap Khiri Khan, were authorities detained him.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Jirayut Chatcharinkul of the Crime Suppression Division said: 'When we arrived, the door was locked and no one responded.

'We called a locksmith to open it, and that's when we found Police Sergeant Major Weerayuth hiding in the hall. He was arrested and taken to the investigation officer at Din Daeng Police Station for legal proceedings. Upon questioning, he initially denied all charges.'

He added that Weerayuth was charged with 'receiving a bribe, wrongful exercise of duties, extortion, illegal detention, and conspiracy by five or more persons to commit an offence'.

Police said seven of the 11 suspects have been arrested. National police chief Police General Kitrat Phanphet confirmed that three former police officers, including Weerayuth, were involved in the kidnapping.

(1 USD = 33.35 THB)