MS Unsolved: The vanishing of a Singaporean student in Greece
MS Unsolved is a series that hopes to raise awareness of cold cases in Singapore and generate new leads. If you have any information on the cases, reach out to MS News or the police.
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A haunting mystery has plagued the family of an aspiring Singaporean doctor for more than a decade, ever since he vanished without a trace in Athens, Greece.
Kouk Leong Jin, then a 28-year-old fourth-year student from Duke-NUS Medical School, was reported missing on 27 Sept 2011.
He never showed up to the medical conference where he was due for a presentation — only leaving a missed call to one of his friends who was supposed to meet him there.
His vanishing led to an intensive search and extensive coverage by Greek media.
Despite various reported sightings, the whereabouts of Mr Kouk remain unknown to this day.
Wife receives email about his arrival in Greece
Mr Kouk first arrived in the city of Athens on 26 Sept 2011, two days before he was supposed to present a research paper at the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre.
After he arrived, he sent an email to his wife, Ms Seow Shu Ping, informing her of his arrival.
He further stated that he would be staying at the Golden Age Hotel in downtown Athens and was due to fly home on 1 Oct 2011, that Saturday.
This was the last time Ms Seow would hear from her husband, whom she had married just two weeks earlier.
Source: NewspaperSG
The next day, Mr Kouk had reportedly called his friend, Mr Neo, who was in Greece for the same event.
After initially missing the call, Mr Neo called him back — only to find Mr Kouk’s phone switched off.
On 28 Sept 2011, the day he was expected at the conference, Mr Kouk was nowhere to be seen.
Missing man left luggage behind
The Golden Age Hotel revealed that Mr Kouk last accessed his room on the night of 27 Sept 2011.
He later left the hotel, carrying his laptop, camera, watch, mobile phone, and cash with him.
Mr Kouk had left his luggage and a mobile charger behind.
Checks showed that his last call was the missed call to Mr Neo, and that his phone was deactivated near Victoria Square, a neighbourhood in downtown Athens.
Meanwhile, inquiries from friends to various hostels and ferry terminals yielded no results, with only two terminals confirming that they had no record of him.
Full-blown search for missing Singaporean in Greece
Mr Kouk’s family contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and filed a police report before starting their search in Athens.
There, they were later joined by Duke-NUS Medical School staff and local authorities.
The family and the school worked hard to blast alerts through broadcast, print, and digital media.
However, one week passed without any strong leads.
Source: ΤΟ ΧΑΜΟΓΕΛΟ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΙΔΙΟΥ on YouTube
Desperate, Mr Kouk’s family and friends created a Facebook page to gather information on his whereabouts.
Ms Seow even appeared on Greek television to appeal for information about her husband.
The MFA, the Singapore consulate in Greece, and law enforcement agencies from both countries were also fully engaged to help the family locate the 28-year-old medical student.
Witnesses reported sightings, but none of them were confirmed
Even though the disappearance of Mr Kouk became a high-profile case, sightings were few and far between.
Those who reportedly saw him in Central Athens were also not entirely confident.
Source: ΤΟ ΧΑΜΟΓΕΛΟ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΙΔΙΟΥ on YouTube
One woman who saw a missing person poster for Mr Kouk called the police after spotting a man who matched his general description.
However, the police still could not be certain it was him.
A police spokesperson summed up the situation by saying that the physical details matched, but there was no definitive way to confirm the identity.
Police said kidnapping unlikely
While there was a theory that Mr Kouk might have been a victim of a kidnapping, the police pushed back against the idea and firmly believed that he was still alive.
They stated that not a single tourist had been kidnapped in that year.
Investigators found no evidence indicating that Mr Kouk was involved in any accidents or unfortunate events, as there were no records of him being admitted to any local hospital.
Another speculation was that he may have rented a car and driven out of Athens.
However, that was ruled out after his friends noted that Mr Kouk did not possess an international driving license, which was required in Greece to rent a car.
Mysterious check-in for return flight to Singapore
The most baffling event was when an unknown person inexplicably checked in online for Mr Kouk’s return flight.
On 1 Oct 2011, someone had reportedly completed an online check-in for a flight back to Singapore under Mr Kouk’s name.
An e-ticket was then issued; however, no one showed up at the Athens International Airport for the flight that afternoon.
The airline’s system did not record the time or location from which the online check-in was performed.
Hence, it was impossible to determine whether Mr Kouk himself did it, or if it was someone else.
The police reportedly tried to trace the Internet Protocol (IP) address to identify the person who checked in, but the results of this investigation were never made public.
To this day, Mr Kouk’s whereabouts remains unknown.
Also read: MS Unsolved: The baffling Queenstown shooting that left a young seamstress dead in 1972
MS Unsolved: The baffling Queenstown shooting that left a young seamstress dead in 1972
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Featured image adapted from Stay In Athens and Empathy Insights on Blogspot.
