China News Network reported that a woman was held captive against her will in Henan province. She managed to escape her captive after she cleverly called the police to deliver her some takeout food. It was largely due to the quick-thinking presence of mind by the officer who took her call, that police knew it was serious enough to react. This was more especially, as the police are often confused with a take-out service in the area.
Captive woman orders food during police phone call
The Straits Times reported on the story and explained that Officer Zhang Shujuan took a call at the Xinxiang Public Security Bureau.
When she answered the phone, at first she thought the caller had made a mistake as a woman was asking about food being delivered from the take-out. Obviously, she told the caller that she had the wrong number and the police do not make food deliveries. However, the young woman persisted and asked again. The second time, after she was told the police could not make a food delivery, she said, "I know, I know", and repeated, "You send me here, I will make the order later."
The third part of the conversation became a little more urgent. Beginning to realize there may be a problem, the police officer kept the woman on the line. The next thing she said to the police was, "Please send me the food, I cannot go out.
If I can, I will not need you to send the food."
Police officer realizes there's something wrong about the food order
It was when the woman said that she could not go out, that she suspected there may something really wrong. That's when she asked where she should send the food delivery to and requested an address. The captive gave the exact location of where she was being held, and gave a perfect description of the clothing she would be wearing.
This was supposedly so the delivery people would recognise her. She even described how she wore her hair.
Officers rush to the house and find the captive
Police officers were notified that there may be a problem with the woman at the address provided, so they rushed to assist her, not sure what was going on, for sure. When they arrived, they found a 20-year-old woman named Li, who recently arrived in Xinxiang.
Her backstory was that she had met a man on the internet who promised to help her find a job in the city. Trusting him, she set off, but then he would not allow her to leave. She held her captive in the house against her will until she hit on the idea of calling for a takeout.
When she asked if she could order in a take-out lunch the captor said yes, and that's when she called the police to place her food order. The police officer and Li both made some very smart moves to help her out of a difficult and dangerous situation.