Scores of street walkers were taken hostage by Taiwan's first "hooker-napping" ring, which police investigators said has "close connections" with a few call girl clubs in southern Taiwan.

Charged with kidnapping were Hsu Wen-chung, 33; Li Chung-yang, 35; and Chang Teng-liang, 49; all of Taoyuan.

Hsu and Li, both with drug abuse and attempted murder records, were captured shortly after midnight at a Taoyuan hotel, where they were trying to kidnap a hooker.

A Beretta 90 pistol was seized from Hsu.

The rescued call girl was identified as Tsou Yen-fei, 23. She arrived in Taipei earlier this year from China as a "mainland bride."

With tips provided by Hsu, police raided Chang's home in suburban Taoyuan at 4 a.m. Chang did time for burglary and theft.

Almost all Chinese hookers kidnapped came here as legitimate spouses of Taiwanese husbands, according to Captain Chen Tse-wen, extortion and kidnapping department chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB).

The "hooker-nappers" left smuggled-in Chinese call girls alone, Captain Chen said.

"Those girls were controlled by snakes," the CIB official said. "Snakes" are smugglers of human cargo, who would do what they could to protect their wares.

Should smuggled-in hookers were taken hostage, the "snakes" would be after the kidnappers.

After taking the hookers hostage, Captain Chen said, the abductors would call procurers to ask for ransoms ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$50,000.

If no ransoms were paid, the "hooker-nappers" sold the girls to call girl clubs for NT$100,000 each. "They sold the girls taken in Taoyuan or Taipei to south Taiwan, and vice versa," said the police captain.

Panderers who had lost their girls to abductors dared not report the "hooker-napping" to police. Had they done so, they would have been investigated for procuring.

"That's why the kidnappers could continue abducting almost with impunity," the police captain added.

One monitor video showed Hsu and Li taking a call girl out of a Taipei hotel on September 21. Hsu showed his pistol to an unseen waiter at the lobby counter to threaten to kill him if he tried to report the kidnapping.

The girl, identified only as Hsiao Lu, was not found. She looked much like Lin chih-lin, one of the highest-paid models in Taiwan, the intimidated waiter told police after the arrest of the trio.

"To kidnap, the abductors would ring up pimps first, pretending to patronize beautiful hookers," said Captain Chen. Pimps had no way of telling the customers and the would-be kidnappers apart.

Captain Chen said his investigators are looking for call girl club operators who have connections with the three-man ring.