A manhunt is underway after four men kidnapped a Hong Kong cryptocurrency investor and attacked her husband with a stun gun

Hong Kong police have launched a manhunt for at least four men who kidnapped a cryptocurrency investor and attacked her husband with a stun gun after intercepting her car in a rural village.

The 55-year-old woman was freed about an hour after she was crammed into a seven-seater car in Tai Lau Leng Village on Po Shek Wu Road in Sheung Shui around 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday, according to police.

A source familiar with the case said on Wednesday that preliminary investigations suggested that a financial dispute over a virtual currency investment worth 15 million Hong Kong dollars (1.9 million) was behind the second kidnapping in the city in 32 hours US dollars) in which the victim was involved.

The woman works as a cryptocurrency investor and her husband, 43, owns an IT company, The Post has learned.

Another source said four men jumped out of the vehicle and dragged the woman out after the couple’s car was intercepted. Her husband was attacked with a stun gun after he tried to intervene.

He added that the woman was then pushed into the kidnappers’ vehicle, which sped away before police were called.

Officers were dispatched to the scene after receiving a report from her husband.

About an hour later, the woman was released in Ta Kwu Ling – about 7 km (4.3 miles) from the crime scene, the source revealed.

According to police, the woman went to Tai Kwu Ling Police Station to get help at around 9:45 p.m.

Police said investigations revealed the victim did not know the four kidnappers, believed to be between 30 and 50 years old.

The woman suffered minor arm and leg injuries, while her husband suffered head, neck and limb wounds. They were taken to North District Hospital for treatment.

Police are treating the case as “unlawful detention” and “assault.”

Detectives from the Tai Po District Criminal Investigation Department are investigating the case. So far there have been no arrests.

On Monday, police rescued a 47-year-old woman in Ma On Shan, about six hours after she was dragged into a car by two men in the city’s busy Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district around midday.

Police arrested two men, aged 34 and 39, and a woman (53) in connection with the case within 12 hours of the kidnapping.

Inspector Chan Kwan-to of the Yau Tsim District Criminal Investigation Department said on Tuesday that the case was related to a financial dispute over HK$100,000 between the victim and the 34-year-old man.

He said the kidnapping took place about six hours before the 39-year-old suspect allegedly tried in vain to set fire to the wooden door of the victim’s house using incense sticks and candles.

Police processed 10,122 reports of violent crimes last year, a 14.6 percent increase from the 8,830 cases registered in 2022.