Aussie man who says he’s been kidnapped by Chinese men in Cambodia has made it back home

Posted November 14, 2018 06:59:16 The Australian man who claimed to have been kidnapped and held captive by Chinese military personnel in a remote area of Cambodia was finally able to reunite with his family on Tuesday, after being held captive for two weeks.

“I’m very happy to be back home,” James Latham told the ABC.

He said he had been held captive since May 23, when he told his wife he was going back to Australia to visit his family.

“It was just such a long time,” he said.

The Australian-Cambodian man said he was kidnapped while walking home from a restaurant in a village called Chiang Phangan on June 9.

“The Chinese took me away from the rest of the family, I was left with a group of three or four Chinese men,” he told ABC Radio.

“They had me under their thumb.”

He was taken to a nearby village and was held there for two days.

After that he was taken back to Chiang Khun, about 1,200 kilometres (930 miles) north of Phnom Penh, and released two weeks later.

His family say they never received any official information about where he was being held.

James Lathons family says he never got any official Chinese information about the whereabouts of him.

James says he has never been able to see his family since his release James Laithon said he has been able now to return to his family after spending two weeks in the Chinese village.

“My wife and I just don’t know what’s going on with him anymore,” he explained.

“He’s been gone for two years and they haven’t given us any information at all.”

James says the Chinese have not offered to return him to his mother or sisters, so he will stay with them.

The man says he is currently living with his father in the village.

He says he hopes to visit China again in the near future, but the journey has been tough.

“You get tired of being under constant surveillance,” he added.

“Sometimes it’s hard to even walk around the village because they’re always checking your belongings.”

He said it was hard to leave the village after his release.

“When I came back, I’m so thankful that I’m back home, because I think my life would be better if I was home,” he concluded.

The ABC has contacted Chinese authorities for comment.