Headscratchers / Lost Horizon

The people of Shangri-La are very peaceful and courteous. So why did they arrange to have Conway kidnapped? Wouldn't it be better to just send him a letter and invite him to Shangri-La? Not to mention that the kidnapper murders the original pilot! That doesn't sound like an enlightened thing to do. The kidnapper also runs out of fuel, crashes the plane, gets himself killed and nearly kills Conway in the process, which obviously would have ruined everything. Who on earth came up with this plan??